The Eternal Chimera
by superfish01
Summary: Kushina and Minato have their owns secrets that only each other know about. How do these secrets affect Naruto and the reason behind the Kyuubi attack? naruxfemkyuu naruxfemhaku. 2 girls only, not harem. Rating to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**The Eternal Chimera**

House-keeping issues first.

First off a disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Secondly, just a few ground rules for reviewing. Don't feel compelled to review. I know many authors do make requests that readers do review, but I'm personally too bothered. If you're not happy with the story and you want to leave _very_ harsh criticism feel free to do so; all I ask is that you include what you dislike or something to improve on

Example 1:

"You suck and I wish you would just jump off of a bridge and end all of our misery." Something like this will be simply ignored.

Example 2

"You suck and I wish you would just jump off of a bridge and end all of our misery. Your plot line is pathetic, your grammar and spelling sucks and finally there are so many plot holes in the story it's like Swiss cheese. Just stop writing." While harsh I don't remind receiving this as it tells me why I suck.

The third note is that this fic will borrow from Fire Emblem (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn), though no character from either will emerge, just ideas with some minor changes. That being said, I do not own Fire Emblem either.

Finally, as unlikely as it is; if you like something from my fic and want to use it for our own don't bother asking, just take it. I'm not particularly fussed if you get permission or give credit, just don't go claiming that you had the idea first and then insisting that I should take my fic off. I won't be too impressed if this happens.

Legend

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

_Flash back or letter_

_********* _change of scene

**Prologue**

It was night time in Konoha, though one could be forgiven if you had said it was a warm summer's day. Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was under attack. The attacker was not the army of an enemy village, the attacker was not even human, it was a blood red fox of monstrous proportions. The fox was by all definitions a demon and as such had a fitting title; Kyuubi no Youko. The attack left the village in flames burning so bright creating that illusion that night was day, the heat from these flames so intense that it could be felt all throughout the village.

The fox had appeared 15 weeks ago for some unknown reason, it had been roaming the country side, apparently in search of something, then one fell night it started on a rampage, killing all who stood in its way.

The ninja of Konoha were not simply going to let this demon destroy their home, everything that they had worked so hard to rebuild after the war with Iwagakure would be for nought if the Fox penetrated their line of defence. They fought with all the power they could muster, trying everything they knew to subdue the beast, but it was not enough. The monster was powerful, outrageously so, nothing seemed to work, they soon realised that if anyone could bring the monster down it would be the strongest in their village, the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, even had his own doubts about whether he could defeat the Fox, he had discussed with his wife Kushina about his plan of attack when intelligence reports came through that the Fox was on a rampaging path towards Konoha.

_FLASHBACK_

'_Minato-kun, what will you do?" A worried Kushina asked her beloved_

_There was no immediate reply, a long silence followed as he thought his answer through carefully, Kushina waited patiently, a trait most uncharacteristic of her_

"_I'm thinking that I may have to seal it. There doesn't seem to be any other way," the response while definite was not without pain, the sealing process was such that it required his life. _

"_Seal?" she inquired through narrowed eyes "Into what? This is the Kyuubi no Youko that we are talking about here, not the Nibi which is sealed into an iron ball or the Ichibi; sealed into a kettle. It will simply break free if the prison does not have a will of its own to hold it at bay. The Fox is simply to powerful." _

_While mostly curious, she was slightly suspicious, what did her husband know of sealing methods that would allow him to be able to seal the most powerful of Bijuu?_

_Minato drew a long breath before answering, _

"_Kushina-chan, I must seal it into a new born baby 3 days old at the most. It is the only way."_

_Kushina looked at the man she loved, though this look held no love, it was the one that she reserved for her most hated enemies. It was one that spoke of knowing unforgivable atrocities were committed by the soon to be dead. _

"_You cannot be serious you would be damning that child to a life of misery." She asked with a rather sharp edge to her voice, currently thinking about her unborn baby and what would happen if that fate was thrust upon it._

"_I have no choice, one sacrifice his or her life to save the rest." There was no anger in his voice, only regret and disappointment for the current course of action._

_She softened her gaze and then asked quietly "What if you and I…"_

_Minato interrupted "No, we are only mortal, there is nothing we can do, the sealing is the only method."_

"_Very well, what if aren't any babies born in the 3 day prior to the attack, then what?" seeing the apologetic look on Minato's face a sudden wave of realisation swept over her._

"_No, you will not use our child. I will not subject our own flesh and blood to that. I'm nowhere near giving birth yet any way." Kushina stood firm_

"_We can induce the pregnancy, as it stands, we will be leaving behind an orphan, and I would trust no one else with such a burden."_

_She was in shock "Orphan? What do you mean orphan?"_

"_The sealing…" he hesitated lightly "The sealing will require my life. I must summon the Shinigami to consummate the sealing."_

_She realised what he was saying, the bond that they shared was beyond the legal status of husband and wife, it was such that when one pair of the couple died, the other would die as well so they would be united in the afterlife and the remaining person would not be left lonely._

_It took many days of arguing between Kushina and Minato before her resolve was finally broken and she agreed to have the sealing performed on their unborn baby. _

_END FLASHBACK_

That brings us back to the present; the Konoha ninja were no longer trying to kill the beast, merely slow it down waiting for the Fourth Hokage to arrive.

Minato was in the hospital, holding his unconscious wife's hand as their child, a healthy young boy was removed though caesarean section. After the procedure, the genjutsu used to place her in an unconscious state was removed, allowing her to hold her child for the first and only time. She was enthralled by his little hand grasping around her finger as she nursed him. She was brought out of her reverie by a deep voice

"Kushina-hime, its time, I must go and perform the sealing before any more lives are lost." came Minato's voice, breaking into her thoughts

Then he leant over and said in a voice so low that only she could hear,

"I'll see you on the other side, Minato-koi." was Kushina's simple reply.

In a streak yellow that had earned him the title of 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' the Yondaime Hokage had disappeared to the battle field, knowing that his death would be the price for the victory he was about to achieve.

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When he got to the battle grounds then was a unanimous cry from the ninja that their leader had arrived, that their shining hope had come to save the day, cheering him to victory.

Minato heard none of this, when he arrived he was in shock, never had he imagined the scale of destruction he was viewing. He was a man that had killed an enemy army on his own and yet to him this was even worse. Every sense was informing him of the tragedy that had occurred. The feeling of a blood soaked ground squelching as he walked, the sound of dying comrades that were not granted the mercy of a swift and painless death, the smell of burning flesh, the taste of the smoke thick in the air from all of the fires, and the sight, the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of lifeless bodies, ripped in to shreds, burnt, flattened by the Foxes great paws all dyed red with blood.

A man that appeared much too old to be on the battlefield approached him,

"Minato-kun, are you sure that this is for the best? You could teach me the hand signs for the justu and allow me to take your place." Sarutobi, the previous Hokage had asked.

"No old man, this is my responsibility, I will not shirk from my duties as Hokage." the tone of his voice indicated a will of steel that would likely never be changed.

"Jiraiya-sensei, Kakashi-kun please watch over him and if possible teach him a trick or two" he said as he addressed two men that appeared with the previous Hokage, Jiraiya a man in his mid 40's with a flowing mane of white hair and Kakashi, a boy in his mid-late teens with a cloth mask over the bottom half of his face and a mop of silver hair.

After they both gave their solemn promise to do all that they could for the boy Minato summoned Gambunta, the Toad boss.

"Minato, if I'm not much mistaken that's the Kyuubi. Don't tell me you seriously intend on taking on the most powerful of the Bijuu?" Gambunta's deep rumbling voice was heard all throughout the battle field.

"Afraid so Boss. I need you to keep him busy and me out of his reach while I make the final preparations for the sealing." was the reply and request by Minato.

"I will do what I can." was the only reply that Minato received for Gambunta had already jumped into the fray to occupy the Fox, ninjato drawn. The fox turned to be more than a tough adversary for the Toad boss. Every time the fox was open and Gambunta had a clear shot at it, it would simply swing its tails in defence, tails said to be able to cause tsunami's and crush mountains. While there was no large body of water to test this out on and the nearest mountain was Hokage monument – miles away in Konoha, the wide spread destruction seen in the forest trees was more than enough reason to make Gambunta try to dodge the blows instead of block.

Then Minato's voice rang through the sound of battle,

"It's ready! Kyuubi no Youko, I can't kill you but I can still seal you soul! Good bye you pitiful creature! Shiki Fuin!" he screamed.

Visible to only Minato and the Kyuubi a spectral entity appeared behind Minato, the Shinigami; it plunged its hand into the Kyuubi and tore out its soul placing it into the stomach of the newly born Naruto, where an intricate pattern appeared on his stomach.

As his last words, he spoke to Naruto,

"Naruto, please forgive your father for the burden I have place on you. I'm sorry for preventing you from meeting either of your parents, but this had to be done. Goodbye, my son."

The surrounding ninja couldn't see what was happening; all they knew was that the Kyuubi had disappeared. They started to rejoice, the crisis finally over. The rejoicing was brought to an abrupt end when their Hokage voice screamed out in pain. Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Kakashi all knew what was happening and tried as best they could to hold back their tears, but it was in vain, they could not and they finally allowed their tears to freely fall down their face. Just as suddenly as the screaming had started the screaming ended, Minato falling off of Gambunta's head was caught in Jiraiya's arms as the little bundle of cloth that was Naruto was caught in Kakashi's arms. Sarutobi had the responsibility of holding the crowd at bay telling them that this was neither the time nor the place to answer all of their questions. Gambunta was able to shed a single tear before he dispelled to the summoning realm as there was no human to anchor him to this realm.

It had already been decided that Sarutobi would once again take up the reins and become the Hokage after Minato had died from the sealing. He had clearly stated that questions could be asked later and any that were not of a classified nature would be answered, he was glad he had made that decision as he realised that over come with grief he could hardly answer the questions that would have been asked even if he wanted to.

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In the hospital the nurse that had been assigned to look after Kushina was suddenly alerted as the hospital machines alerted her to the fact that there were no signs of life from the one they were attached to. Slightly panicked, she rushed to the room to find Kushina lying in bed deathly still. She hit the emergency button calling for other nurses. Other nurses and 2 doctors rushed into the room, intent on doing all they could to revive the Hokage's wife. After 20 mins of failed attempts, she was declared dead by one of the doctors at 12:14 am on October the 11, just hours after giving birth to Naruto. With the death following the caesarean section so closely it was assumed that she died giving birth to Naruto as the strain of the operation was too much, resulting in her death.

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Sarutobi had arrived at his office in the Hokage tower and found on his desk 2 envelopes. One addressed to him and another addressed to Naruto. Curious, he opened the one to him, and almost dropped it when he realised from whom it came. It was a letter from Minato it read

_Sarutobi,_

_Or perhaps Hokage-sama is a more appropriate title now. In any case, there are some issues that I need to inform you of after my death._

_The first concerns the letter that is addressed to Naruto. It contains an explanation to Naruto as to why I did this to him; this includes explanation of his heritage. It also contains my last words to him and some advice on how to live his life. _

_It also contains a letter from Kushina, his mother, as by the time you read this she will also be dead, I will explain this in greater detail later. It has some information about the both of us so that he may have some understanding about who his parents were._

_Also, sealed within the letter are scrolls from both my clan and Kushina's clan. Both of being the last of our kind. This is protected by a blood seal so that only Naruto's blood can open it; I can only pray that more devious minds will not cut Naruto in order to see the information contained within those scrolls._

_Naruto's letter MUST be given to him when he becomes a genin. He has trials to prepare for that only he can face. How do I know that he even wants to be one? It's not a choice really, if he wants to be considered clan head in either my clan or Kushina's clan he needs to be able to fight and fight very well._

_Finally, I said that I would explain why Kushina is dead. Here goes: Kushina and I were bound by more than the simple laws of Konoha when we married. The laws of both our clan were invoked and created a bond between us. Simply put when one feels pain, so does the other and when one feels joy the same occurs. This holds true in death as well and when one half dies so does the other, so that they may be united where ever they go and that they will not feel loneliness in the other's absence after death._

_My last words to you are first of all a request; please try to have Naruto seen as a hero by the village, I have every confidence that this can happen, though Kushina does not share my sentiment. _

_Look after my village Old Man and good luck with all the paper work._

_Yours truly,_

_Minato Namikaze_

Sarutobi was floored by then information shocked that Naruto was now an orphan.

Sarutobi let out a long sigh, it was only his first hour back and already he had to deal with crap that he really would have rather not have to. It was necessary to tell the council that the Hokage was dead and that the Kyuubi had been sealed and not killed. He thought sadly

'This is going to cause uproar amongst the villagers; I just know it. Sadly I think that I have to agree with Kushina, they are not going to be as generous as he thinks they will be.'

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In the council chambers, all of the Clan heads were present as well as the Council elders Danzo, Homura and Koharu. There was unrest amongst the ranks, all owing to the simple rumour that the 4th Hokage was dead.

Koharu was first to call Sarutobi on this "Sarutobi, what's this nonsense that everyone is spouting? The 4th Hokage being dead?"

The aged Hokage had to compose himself before answering "First of all, you must address me as Sarutobi-sama or Hokage-sama now, because it is not nonsense, the fourth Hokage _is_ dead."

Koharu gaped like a stunned mullet before finally getting her voice back and softly asking "How?"

"He was fighting the Kyuubi no Youko, and immortal being of immense power. Surely you didn't expect a mere mortal, no matter how strong to prevail with his life intact no less?"

She was summarily silenced, only for another voice to join the conversation

"Hokage-sama," it was Shibi Aburame, ever careful to be respectful of one above his post, "You said that it was not possible for him to defeat an immortal being regardless of whether he lived or died, yet he achieved the feat, would you mind divulging how?"

It was time to bite the bullet and Sarutobi knew it.

"He didn't defeat it, not in the true sense of the word anyway. The beast was sealed into a new born baby."

There was an upsurge of outrage from many of the present council members asking for the name and whereabouts of this child, many calling for its execution. This was all silenced by the Hokage

"QUIET! THERE WILL BE NO SUCH TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE WHILE I AM HOKAGE." He roared above the racket.

"The demon is simply a wolf in lambs clothing, it could break out and destroy us, or even use that body of the child as a conduit for its actions," the voice belonged to Fugaku Uchiha, there was also a murmur of a agreement from the rest of the crowd. There was a was a sudden outburst from one of the other clan heads,

"That is a very flawed line of thinking Uchiha-san," it was Shikaku Nara, with the most uncharacteristic outburst.

"Explain," was the very sharp retort from Fugaku

"Better yet, I'll demonstrate," and proceeded to seal a kunai into a scroll. He gave the seal kunai to Fugaku and then stated

"Now kill me using that sealed, kunai." There was a gasp from the audience as Fugaku was had unsealed the kunai and was charging towards the Nara clan head, only for him to stop in his tracks a few meters from Shikaku due to being caught by his _kagemane jutsu._

"What's the matter, had second thought about dying here?" Fugaku taunted

"I said 'kill me with the sealed kunai' not 'unseal the kunai and kill me'" he replied evenly, sounding almost bored

"There is no difference," Fugaku snarled

"Of course there is, if we liken the situation to Naruto, he is the scroll and the Kyuubi is the kunai. The container cannot kill me but the imprisoned certainly could." explained Shikaku

"Ha, you have just proven my point, the sealed can kill us and just as this kunai was unsealed so to can the Kyuubi be unsealed," Fugaku shouted in triumph

"Think about what you just said, who unsealed the kunai? You did." Shikaku's voice cut through Fugaku's apparently premature celebration.

"Get to your point," Fugaku stated icily, levelling a glare at the Nara clan head

"Quite simply, the only reason the sealed became a threat was because someone with knowledge _unsealed_ it. Meaning that if no one tampers with the seal containing the Kyuubi then we are safe. All we have to do is ensure that no one tries to do anything so foolish."

Fugaku fumed, he knew he was beaten, but more importantly the Nara head had just made him lose face in front of the council, more importantly the Hyuuga, the Uchiha's only rival clan within the village.

The Hokage on the other hand, well he was elated. Simply overjoyed that other people could see past the demon sealed into the boy and realised that he was only a human, perhaps there was hope after all.

Danzo had observed the conversation for long enough, now it was time for him to put forth his own ideas and potentially further his own agenda.

"Hokage-sama, if the boy has such a powerful resource at his disposal, then would it not be wise to train him to make the most of it?" he inquired

"Before you even try to recruit Naruto to that ROOT program of yours, there will be no such thing happening today. As it stands, I have half a mind to disband the group now; however, we were called here for different purpose, so we will stick to the task at hand." Sarutobi stated; destroying any hopes Danzo may have had of acquiring a new and powerful weapon to brainwash into being a loyal servant.

"If I may be so bold, Hokage-sama, can I inquire who the parents of the boy are?" the question was voiced by Hiashi Hyuuga, head of the Hyuuga clan.

"The boy is an orphan, both parents killed through the course of the Kyuubi's attack." Sarutobi answered; while it wasn't what the council wanted to hear, it was not a lie, he could only hope that they assumed that it was a civilian child are at best the child of 2 jounin, not the son of the most powerful ninja to have lived and his wife, a former Whirlpool legend.

Finally it was Homura's turn to speak up,

"Hokage-sama, we must still alert the village as to what is living amongst them,"

"And what is living amongst them Homura-san?" asked Sarutobi rather testily

"A demon," was the shout from one of the council members

Sarutobi levelled a glare that promised death, the council member audibly gulped and returned to his station.

"We have already determined that he is a no more a demon than that scroll is the a sealed kunai." His words were icy as his stare still seemed to linger on the council member.

"None the less, Hokage-sama, you have called us here to inform us that the Kyuubi was sealed and not killed, if you weren't here to tell us who it was sealed into, then why even bother to convene us?" Homura replied

The Hokage could not deny the truth in his words, he had essentially told the council nothing and realised that he'd indeed have to proffer the name,

"Naruto…" he hesitated slightly, not wanting to open another can of worms that could occur if he used the name 'Namikaze' "Naruto Uzumaki" he said, opting to give Naruto his mother's maiden name.

"Not that it should matter, it was the Yondaime's dying wish that he be view as a hero. However, Seeing the reaction that Fugaku just had is more than to give me grounds to believe that this won't happen." Sarutobi continued, while still silently hoping that more people would share Shikaku's point of view.

"Now that everything is out in the open and that you have all been made aware of the situation with the Kyuubi, the death of the Yondaime and my reinstatement as the Hokage there is nothing further that needs to be said at this meeting, let us all go back to what is left of our families and try to get a night of rest before we mourn for our lost ones." It was at times like this that Sarutobi truly felt his age and he gave his advice to the members of the council in a solemn and somewhat subdued tone.

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Sarutobi was in the middle of going home when a sudden thought had occurred to him. Minato and Kushina had gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal her pregnancy, yet they had to let some one in on the secret, namely the people who tended to them through their stay in the hospital. He quickly changed route ad arrived at Konoha General Hospital a short while later. He went to the head of the hospital and requested and all staff that we involved in the care of Kushina and her unborn baby, from the doctor and surgeon that preformed the operation to the cleaners responsible for cleaning the private room.

A short while later everyone who was originally grumbling about being called in at the current hour quickly silenced themselves as they realised that they were in the presence of a previous Hokage. When everyone was settled Sarutobi began talking.

"Thank you all for gathering here at this ungodly hour, the effort is appreciated. It has come to my attention that all of you have in some way had contact with Kushina and Minato, through the period of Kushina's pregnancy. I must ask you to never, _ever_ reveal this information to anyone. Minato is viewed as a hero in our village for his efforts through the Iwa-Konoha war. As a result he is also regarded as a demon and a dealer of death to Iwa and their allies Kumo. If either of these two countries were to discover Minato's heir, they would send a squad to perform an assassination immediately," many were sobered by this information.

"It is for this reason that I must classify this information as an S rank secret of our village. The penalty for divulging such information is death not only to the party responsible for telling the secret, but also to the recipient of the information, so think very carefully before betraying my trust."

There was a nod of assent from the group of people he was addressing and he took it that everyone understood the gravity of the situation. With nothing left to say he dismissed them and warily he thought that he would also have to speak to Kakashi and Jiraiya about this as well.

He was sorely tempted to leave the task till morning, though he knew that his laziness would come back to bite him so he grudgingly made the trip to Kakashi's house first, he knew where Jiraiya could be found.

When he got to Kakashi's front door and it was answered by the youth all he said was

"Come with me, I have something to discuss with you and Jiraiya,"

Well who was Kakashi to refuse such an 'invitation', when the Kage spoke you damn well listened. A short while later found them outside the Namikaze clan grounds, while not quite as big as either the Hyuuga or Uchiha clan compounds it was still quite a large area. Jiraiya was found inside the main house, looking weary after a long night and now tending to Naruto. Once he had the attention of both men he began.

"I know you two know that this is Minato's son. In fact, it's for that very reason that I have called you here. I want you to keep this a secret, you can easily understand the trouble it would cause if either Kumo or Iwa found out he is Minato's heir. The hospital staff are already aware of this and I have classed it as an S rank secret. I'm sure I don't have to explain the implications," both men shook their heads affirming that they knew that if they told the secret they would pay with their lives.

Now that he had taken care of all business that needed immediate attention, he was left to simply shunshin to his clan home and sleep, preparing for tomorrow.

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Three days later saw a service held for those who have bravely fought and lost their lives in the battle against the Kyuubi. It was also was the place that Sarutobi announced his reinstatement as the Hokage. He gave a speech, trying to lift them morale of the people he was to lead once more,

"People of Konoha, three days ago we were dealt a very severe blow. We lost friends, comrades and family members. We also lost a great leader; the Yondaime was a great man and will be forever missed. Giving his life for the prospect of saving this village and defeating the Kyuubi is a feat that only Minato Namikaze would be capable of. Through his sacrifice, we realise just how strong the Will of Fire was within him. We must look to his sacrifice and display of his will as inspiration to rebuild and create a better tomorrow."

The people clapped politely in appreciation for Sarutobi's effort is raising their morale. Sarutobi noticed the tension amongst the members of the crowd and wondered what had them so tense, until one of them spoke up and asked,

"Hokage-sama, are the rumours true? Are the rumours that the Kyuubi was seal and not killed true?" one person asked amongst the thousand or so that were gathered.

Sarutobi cursed under his breath. What idiotic council member had decided to let that information leak out?

"Hokage-sama, people are saying that the Kyuubi was sealed into a boy, what if it breaks free, what if it uses Naruto to kill all of us."

Now the Hokage was livid, who the hell had the foresight of telling a group of distraught villagers that the one for their pain was sealed inside something as fragile as a human baby? He had decided that they had better hear the truth straight from the source, rather than getting some garbled version that was most likely tailored to suit the purposes of the one spreading the rumour,

"Yes, it's true; the Demon is sealed within baby. The Kyuubi was too powerful, even for Minato. So he did the only thing he knew that had the best possibility of working, he sealed it."

"And what has been done about it?" asked another face in the crowd.

Slightly confused, but hoping that this wasn't leading where he thought it was he asked "And what should be done?"

"It needs to be killed," was the swift reply from yet another crowd member, almost instantly followed by further shouts demanding similar actions or nods of approval.

"The Kyuubi is seal in the child, not reincarnated as it," The Hokage shouted out above the noise, frustrated by the close-mindedness of the people he had chosen to lead once again.

"The thing could escape, or use him directly to hurt us," we the counter-argument

"Do you have such little faith in the Yondaime as to suggest that his method would fail us when he gave his very life to ensure our safety? Not to mention that he called upon the power of the Shinigami in order to seal the Kyuubi away?"

It's not that we have a lack of faith in either the Shinigami or the Yondaime or that we underestimate them, it's just that this is the Kyuubi no Youko. The Yondaime was only human, subject to mistakes and we don't know which is stronger and seal bound by the Shinigami, or a demon's will to live and escape, so to prevent any harm, he should be killed."

Sarutobi looked into the crowd and saw many faces reflecting support for the words spoken before he laid down the law, quite literally.

"I can this child will not get a chance with the lot of you and I cannot simply make a law stating that you must like him. So this is a new law that I am laying down now and putting into effect immediately in order to give Naruto some chance of a normal life in his later years. no person is to mention the fact that Naruto has the Kyuubi to anyone. This means that it cannot be mentioned in public, nor can it be discussed in the privacy of one's own home. Yes that includes warning your children of it as they need not know. This I to be considered an S rank secret. For the civilians in the gathering, this means that any utterance of this issue in any fashion will result in you execution, there were gasps of shock from the crowd at how harsh the penalty was

"Secondly, any attempts to take justice into your own hands and kill Naruto, will be met with the same punishment; death. This is final."

Realising that there was nothing further to be said and that Sarutobi's mind could not be swayed on the matter, the congregation broke up, returning to trying to rebuild their lives.

As they left to go about their business Sarutobi looked to the back of the gathering seeing Naruto in the arms of Jiraiya thinking

'The next few years are gonna be long as hell. Minato-kun I'm sorry they disregarded your last wish.'

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End prologue

Remember, don't feel compelled to do review, I'm not really doing this for that reason. If you do, and you feel the need to criticise, tell me on what areas to improve on.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Eternal Chimera**

Righteo, housekeeping.

First thank you to all those that reviewed even when I said that you didn't have to if you didn't feel like it, props to you.

For the feedback itself – well it has been positive so far. I haven't written a fic before due to some doubts about my skills as a writer. To get the feedback was a great boost to my confidence

At the end of this chapter is a list to vote from as to who the second pairing is for Naruto. Female Kyuubi is set in stone and there will be only one other (I was actually supposed to do this at the conclusion of the previous chapter.

Same rules: don't feel obligated to review

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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**Four years later**

He was running. He didn't know, why. No, he knew why he was running, if they caught him then he then they would make him suffer; do painful things to him. What he didn't know was why they were chasing. He didn't dare stop to ponder; he had learnt that talking did nothing, only evasion till the Old Man came.

'Why was today any different from any other day? Usually they just settle for ignoring him, shooing him out of their shops and shielding other children from him. The Old Man had said it was his birthday today. Weren't people supposed to be nice to you on your birthday?'

These were the thoughts running through Naruto's had as he ran from a group of drunk and enraged villagers. His feet pounded the pavement as he desperately struggled to get away from his pursuers. He was fortunate for the many nooks, crannies broken fences that were around in this district. They cave him ample room to hide while the adults chasing him chasing him, or else a quick thoroughfare to another ally-way, while they were either force to climb over or find a different route if they still wanted to harm him.

While he was running, he wasn't paying too much care to his surroundings. He turned a corner, blindly hoping that the Old Man would come and rescue him. After turning the corner his face blanched; it was a dead end, and no one of those broken down fences so common in this area, but a solid brick wall, impossible to get around. He turned around in the hopes that he would still have enough time to back out and try to continue his escape; he had no such luck as the pursuers were already upon him each with an evil leer on their face.

"Lookie what we have here," one of their number said to his accomplices, a slight slur of alcohol affecting his speech "the demon has gone and trapped itself in an alley way." The man finished with a slightly crazed look about his face

Another spoke up, this time a woman, "It's even decided to take us to some weapons to help us finish the Yondaime's good work." She grinned maniacally casting a look about the ally-way and spotting some broken glass bottles as well as some broken plumbing pipes that looked ready to be ripped out of their moorings.

Anything that could be used as a weapon was taken up and swung, just to get a feel of the thing. Then it started, blood curdling screams could be heard from ages away, as Naruto desperately tried to protect himself by curling up into a ball and covering his head. His screams for mercy were ignored by the group

"This is for all the friends and family we lost, feel the pain we are giving you and know that it will never compare to the pain you caused us. We will never get our loved ones back" this time a boy in his late teens snarled at Naruto while viciously slashing with a broken bottle.

The crowd by this stage was growing frustrated, he was just simple not dying; more proof that he was a demon After all what normal human child could take such a beating and still move, much less scream I agony. Had they been more composed they would have noticed that the cuts and bruises that they were dealing him were healing almost as fast as they were delivered, only to be replaced by fresh ones.

"Hold him still." One of them grunted. The others did as they were asked.

"Well this is it demon, no one can survive without air." He promptly slashed a shard of glass across Naruto's trachea. At that point the air around them felt like it had gone completely frigid. It was a pressure so unbearable it was hard to breathe. They turned and looked for the source. A man with a mop of silver hair wearing standard Konoha Jounin attire was standing before them. He had a cloth face mask and his hitai-ate covering his left eye.

Kakashi was livid "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

One of the crowd stammered a weak response "W…we are f…finishing what the Yondaime st…started and what you n…ninja are too w…w…weak to finish. We are killing the demon."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed "You have been made aware that the demon is sealed in Naruto and that they are not one in the same. You would also be aware of the Hokage's hard line stance on issues regarding Naruto. As it stands I need to get him to medical attention immediately, so I can't take you to Ibiki for questioning."

There was a collective sigh of relief; everyone, even civilians, knew of Ibiki's sadism, well him and his protégé Anko.

Kakashi continued "No, you punishment will be administered immediately, you will be executed for your crimes."

He drew a kunai from the holster on his leg and before the civilians even realised he had moved he was amongst their number killing them with cold efficiency. Once he was done he rushed over to Naruto to inspect the damage.

"Kami-sama above, what have they done to you?" he said to himself.

Naruto open a heavily bruise eye and all that he could see was a shock of silver, lost of blue an a little pink, probably skin, before he passed out. Kakashi was preparing to shunshin him to the hospital when he stopped to take notice of the cuts that were healing on his body.

'The Kyuubi is healing him' he idly though before shunshining to the hospital.

*********************************************************************

He didn't bother to even try the general admittance; he shunshined directly into a room that was specifically set up for Naruto. He had been through this before and knew what to do. He hit the emergency button that called for a special team of doctors and nurses. It also linked to the Hokage's office so that the Hokage would be alerted any time the room was in use as the room was reserved for Naruto alone. Not 20 seconds later a group of men and women walked in and wasted no time in getting to work. The Hokage shunshined in shortly after,

"Kakashi, report." he stated in a voice that commanded authority  
"He was attacked by a group of villagers, Hokage-sama" was the swift reply  
"And of the villagers?" Sarutobi further inquired  
"All dead, Sir. There wasn't time to bring Naruto here and take them in for questioning. Rather than let them get off scot free, I took the best course of action I could think of and killed them on the spot. Their remains are still in the ally-way."  
"Very well then, I'll put Itachi on clean up duty then. You have done well."

They watched in silence as the medics went about doing their job of healing Naruto. Kakashi finally broke the silence

"Hokage-sama, I've been meaning to ask; where did you find a group of medics so willing to treat Naruto?"  
"This group of people are the ones that cared for Kushina through her stay in the hospital while she was carrying Naruto. They never saw Naruto as the demon inside of him as they saw him being born, understanding that he is indeed human."  
"I see." Was the only reply he received.

Once the medic nins had done all that they could a doctor by the name of Megumi Takani (from Rurouni Kenshin – no I don't own it) approached the two men but addressed the Hokage more specifically,

"He needs rest. He has been through a lot tonight and even though the physical damage is mostly repaired, he still needs to recover from the emotional damage. We will continue to monitor his progress and let you know of any changes to his condition. As a final observation the Kyuubi's chakra healed most of the damage before we could, by the time Hatake-san had brought him in here most of the wounds were healed or well on their way to being closed over."

Sarutobi answered slowly "Very well…I will wait here till he has regained consciousness. Kakashi, could you and Itachi Uchiha please go and clean up the mess before some innocent child stumbles across it?"

"At once, Hokage-sama." Even if the Hokage had wanted to, he wouldn't have got another word in as Kakashi shunshined away almost immediately.

'Strange,' he thought 'he is late for nearly everything and yet when he feels like it he can perform tasks with the swiftness of the wind.'

*********************************************************************

White. That was all he saw when he opened his eyes. It couldn't be his room in the orphanage. The room was so dirty that the walls were caked in black filth. He looked around to see the Old Man talking to a young woman. He remembered her face; she was one of the few that were nice to him. There was the Old Man, some people at the hospital, Old man Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame and hopefully now the strange figure that had saved him last night would be able to join that list.

The Hokage watched patiently as Naruto roused himself from his sleep. Idly looking at him over the hours, he realised quite a number of things. The most obvious was that Naruto truly looked like his father. How no one in the village had picked up o it yet was beyond his understanding. While thinking of Minato he was reminded about the letter he was left.

'_Naruto's letter MUST be given to him when he becomes a genin. He has trials to prepare for that only he can face. How do I know that he even wants to be one? It's not a choice really, if he wants to be considered clan head in either my clan or Kushina's clan he needs to be able to fight and fight very well.'_

Sarutobi pondered the point for awhile before coming to realise that even without the requirement to need to fight well t lead the clan he was going to need some form of training if he wanted to live to see his 5th birthday. Nothing too serious. Perhaps just introduce him to the basic bunshin and taijutsu style used in Konoha's Ninja Academy as well as kawarimi and henge. These things could help him survive and escape the rampant crowds long enough for either him or his ANBU to arrive.

"Naruto, are we feeling better?" he was originally going to as 'are you alright?' but it seemed like a stupid question after nearly being beat to death.

"I'm feeling better, though I really wish that I knew why they pick on me so much, Oji-san."

Sarutobi looked back at him sadly and said "I wish I knew too, Naruto-kun. They have no reason to do when they do to you." He had answered the question without being too specific, something that he had to do more and more these days. He knew the day was fast approaching when he could not be so vague. In any case, at the moment it seemed to work as Naruto was satisfied that he was not at fault.

"Naruto, I've been thinking, how would you like to start training as a ninja." Sarutobi asked cautiously, when he saw Naruto's eyes light up he realised just what he had gotten himself into.

"Are you serious Oji-san? Like training me to move super fast? Or are you training me to hide in the shadows? Or like teaching me ultra awesome, super cool jutsu?"

Sarutobi had to hold his hand to stem the flow of questions that were coming thick and fast. Now Naruto had asked the questions he realised that he would have to decide what to have taught to Naruto by his sensei. Higher raking jutsu was out of the question, not until he got far more control of his chakra, otherwise using high level jutsu could have catastrophic effects, particularly considering how high his chakra reserves could be with his father being ho he was and the Fox adding to them.

"We will discuss that with your sensei when the time comes. For now you need to rest. Do you have any special request for food?"

"ICHIRAKU'S RAMEN." He shouted at the top of his lungs

The Sandaime had to twiddle his finger in his ear. Apparently he looked like his father but had his mother's behaviour to deal with; as a certain Nara would put it 'this could be troublesome'.

"You rest for now. When you wake up again your sensei will be waiting here for you with bowl of ramen you seem to love so much."

Naruto threw himself at the Old Hokage, wrapping his arms around his neck, practically screaming "Thank you, Oji-san. You're the best."

After Sarutobi had regained some semblance of hearing after and made sure that Naruto was asleep, he shunshined out to his office. Once there he summoned one of his ANBU, Ox appeared before him,

"Go find Kakashi Hatake and tell him that when he is done cleaning up that I wish to speak with him."

"At you command, Hokage-sama." And promptly left to complete his assigned task.

Sarutobi was left to his own thoughts as h waited for Kakashi to finish his duties before arriving. He sat there and looked at a picture of his late successor on the wall and thought to himself

'Minato, what would you think of you village if you could see what they did, what they still do to your son.'

After nearly an hour lost in thought, Kakashi eventually shunshined into the office.

"That took a surprisingly long time considering both you and Itachi were assigned. Were there really that many bodies?" Sarutobi asked genuinely interested.

"No, there weren't that many bodies, I finished shortly after getting the message but there was a chain of black cats walking across the city. I had to leave the city if I didn't want to cross their path."

A vein pulsed in Sarutobi's forehead. He truly didn't know what was more irritating; Kakashi's tardiness, or his lies which were obvious to even the youngest of children.

"In any case, I've called you here to ask you to be a sensei." Sarutobi decided to let his frustration go for the time being.

"I don't know why you bother asking me every time. No team has ever met my expectations. It's not likely that anything is about to change now."

"It isn't a team I want you to train, it's an individual," Sarutobi said with a grin "I want you to train Naruto."

"Naruto? In what?"

"Ballet." Sarutobi answered in a completely serious voice "The ninja arts of course! What else?" Sarutobi's voice now had a hint of irritation to it.

"Right…of course. Yes…sorry." Kakashi at least had the decency to feel a little ashamed of his stupid question.

"I want you teaching him the basic academy jutsu, taijutsu. Also we need to have him learn about stealth. Not only will it prove useful both now, while trying to hide from villagers till we get there it will be vital throughout his ninja career. Hopefully it will also help him to quieten down a little." Sarutobi added on as afterthought thinking about his still ringing ears.

"Very well, I'll accept. I'll go to the hospital and meet him. He hasn't really met me yet." Kakashi announced to the Hokage.

"Very good, but you will need to stop but Ichiraku's. I promised him his sensei would bring him some for when he woke up." Sarutobi added with a sheepish look about his face.

Kakashi, cursing the need to go across the city and then track back with ramen in his hands, shunshined out of the office to appear almost an instant later outside Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. He got there and ordered 2 packs of miso to go before holding them both in one hand in order to perform the half ram with the other necessary to shunshin to Naruto's room.

*********************************************************************

Kakashi, looking around realised that Naruto was still asleep, place the ramen on the bedside table and turned to close the door to the room. In the time that he turned he heard furious slurping, lips smacking followed by a large belch. By the time he turned back he noticed that _both_ packs of miso ramen were missing and there was a very content looking Naruto propped up against the wall, still sitting in bed.

"Weren't you asleep a second ago?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"Yep," was the bright reply "the smell of ramen woke me up" he clarified.

Still in shock Kakashi went on, trying to maintain some level of composure "Right, well, Hokage-sama should have told you that you were going to get an instructor for the ninja arts, well that's me."

"My name is Kakashi. You can call me Kakashi-sensei seeing as I will be teaching you.

"Cool so what are you gonna teach me. Some really powerful fighting style? Ultra speed? How to make dragons out of air?" Kakashi couldn't get a word in. He finally started when Naruto had run out of breath.

"I will teach you how to hide really well, were gonna make you a lot faster. Were only gonna learn a few things and they are things you would learn from the academy anyway."

"But I really wanted to learn lots of cool things like how to beat a person with the flick of a finger."

Kakashi thought at the back of his mind, 'well if you can get Lady Tsunade to teach you then you might be able to'. In the middle of his wandering mind he thought of a brilliant way to get Naruto to co-operate.

"Naruto, how does this sound. If you can learn everything that the Hokage wants me to teach you then I will teach you an awesome move. Sound fair?"

"What's the name of the move? Every awesome move has an awesome name."

Kakashi pondered the point for a second before deciding on the name,

"It's called the Super Awesome, Ultra Flashy Jutsu."

Kakashi looked at Naruto who now appeared to have stars in his eyes at the prospect of learning something so 'awesome'.

"Alright then, you got yourself a deal Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi smiled, he took it hook line and sinker.

"You're due to be released tomorrow morning so I will pick you up from here. With noting further left to say to each other, Kakashi left Naruto so he could rest up for tomorrow, leaving him free to pursue…other activities. There was a very good book that the bookstore had just released that he wanted to buy, giving perverted giggle as he though of his purchase to be.

*********************************************************************

Morning couldn't come fast enough for Naruto. By the time Kakashi had arrived, he was literally bouncing off of the walls, telling anyone who would listen that he was going to learn to be a ninja as well as the super awesome, ultra flashy jutsu.

It probably would have helped the hospital staff had Kakashi actually shown up when Naruto was discharged, rather than turning up two hours afterwards.

Alright Naruto time to commence your training. Do you know where the stream is? The one just near the hospital?" after receiving a nod of confirmation he continued  
"I want you to race me there". Of course it was not a true race. Kakashi being a Jounin of the village could have beaten him there without even raising more than a hand. Ah, yes shunshin was a lovely thing. It was much easier to get him to work if he was having fun while doing it. By the next time he looked down Naruto was already down the hall, cackling like a madman about how he was going to beat his sensei in a race.

Kakashi kept tabs on him as he raced through the village, towards the stream. It would not do well to have him attacked again. As he kept watch he took note of the glares that nearly every villager sent at Naruto. The ones that didn't glare completely disregarded him, as though he wasn't there.

'Ignoring him, almost as bad as actively harassing him' Kakashi thought.

*********************************************************************

When they both arrived at the stream Naruto was the first to speak.

"So, what are we going to do here…er…Kakashi-sensei?"

"We are first going to get to know each other beyond names. I'll start you know my name, it's Kakashi, likes – reading, my dislikes – well I can't really think of anything of the top of my head, and my dream for the future – I'll tell you when you're older." Kakashi said the last part without the usual traces of a perverted tone usually present in his voice when discussing such matters; indication that he might actually be serious about what he was talking about, though Naruto was too young for him to understand.

"Now you turn."

"Well you now that my name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are Ramen and people that are nice to me, my dislikes are the time that it takes for ramen to be cooked and people that are mean to me, dream for the future…"

Kakashi interrupted, "You don't have to have one yet, but I would appreciate that if you do get a dream, then you tell me, then I'll know that you are ready to hear my dream for the future." Naruto simply nodded.

"I am going to teach you how to swim." Kakashi suddenly announced

"I thought you were gonna teach me something cool, like how to walk on water." Naruto whined, not realising that it actually was possible to walk on water.

"Nope, swimming, while strictly speaking, isn't a shinobi skill, is still, vital for survival. What would happen if the Hokage gave you a mission someday that involved you getting wet in something deeper than a bath?"

"I…I wouldn't be able to do it" Naruto realised that this important.

Kakashi gave one of his eye smiles and said,

"Naruto, we are gonna do some things that may not seem like they will help right away, but trust me when I say that they will be useful later on. Now strip to your boxers and I'll do the same so we are ready to get in the water."

And so the lesson began. It wasn't all easy going. At first Naruto wasn't overly confident of being in the unfamiliar and wasn't too particularly trusting of Kakashi not to let him go and simply allow him to drown. In Kakashi's opinion this was hardly surprising considering the track record he had with misplaced trust in the villagers.

By the end of the hour Kakashi had Naruto laying flat on the water, rather than in an upright sit position. He was also surprised to see that his legs were performing the correct kicking motion rather than seeing the running motion that so many children display when learning to swim.

"Naruto, that's enough for swimming today. I think we should do something else while we dry off."

Naruto obediently followed Kakashi along the water's edge till they were in a small clearing. He didn't seem to have the usual spring in his step, probably just tiredness from the swimming.

"What now Sensei," asked Naruto, eager to learn more. He was soon learning that Kakashi was becoming someone he could trust, when Kakashi had said that he wouldn't let go in the water, he didn't. When Kakashi said he was going to let go and 'catch' him again in a short while, he did. It seemed that when he gave his word he kept it.

"We are going to meditate. This is for two reasons. The first I that we need to unlock your chakra in order for you do the jutsu you so want to learn. The second reason is that we can dry off before we put our clothes back on."

To himself Kakashi thought of the third reason,

'Hopefully it will calm him down and get him to stop bouncing around all of the time'

"How do I meditate, Sensei?" Naruto asked

"You simply need to still and try to relax. While you are doing this, for today, I want you to focus on finding a warmth within you. This is your chakra. When you think you have found it, don't shout out. Simply remain focussed and tell me; I will give you more instructions from there.

Almost an hour had passed from when Kakashi had started Naruto on mediation. If he had guessed, Kakashi would have said that Naruto was asleep; he didn't think that it was possible for the blonde to be this quiet and awake at the same time. That was until Naruto in a small voice said

"Sensei, I think I found it, it feels like a thought only really hard to think" Kakashi smiled at these words. When you first accessed your chakra it felt like a thought, or better yet a sentence on the tip of your tongue that you couldn't quite say.

"Good, now focus on trying to drag it forwards, try and 'think' that though," Kakashi coached, trying to use Naruto's own words.

It was another full minute before anything happened, then Kakashi felt it, Naruto's chakra came spilling out of him. So young and he already had a capacity of what had to be at least mid to high genin level, he was floored.

"Good, Naruto, very good indeed. I want you to remember that feeling. Never forget it. It is one of the most important things you will use through your life as a ninja."

"Now that you know what you chakra feels like I want you to try using it. I'm going to tech you some jutsu, but first we need to tech you the 12 basic hand signs."

Kakashi ran through the 12 hand signs, giving Naruto time to copy and himself time to correct any mistakes in his signing. After Kakashi was confident that Naruto had the different had signs down pat he showed him the hands signs for the henge. On Naruto's first try, the replica Kakashi had his weight distributed incorrectly, giving the impression of severely obese person instead of the fit person that he was. It took a further 23 more tries before Naruto got the dimensions correct. The only thing left to work on in at any great length was his eye for detail as there were things missing from the transformation, such as a kunai holster or the buckling on his sandals.

Next was the kawarimi. This jutsu had its own unique set of hand signs and again, Kakashi gave Naruto time to memorise them before getting him to perform it himself.

"Kawarimi no jutsu," Naruto announced to the world. Kakashi's eye widened for a split second; that was the only amount of time that he had to react. Something must have gone wrong in the hand signalling, for there was a huge boulder dropping through the air to their position. He quickly tackled Naruto out of the way and asked for him to repeat the process, this time focussing less on the amount chakra used but more on the hand signs. Kakashi opted to stay much closer this time in case a similar event occurred; he knew he could get them out of there if the situation called for it. When Naruto reattempted the technique, Kakashi was puzzled,

"What's wrong, aren't you going to try again?" he asked

"I already have" was the reply. Apparently Naruto had use too little chakra this time and had not moved any mass at all.

"Hmmm…alright then, could you try to concentrate somewhere in the middle, while, trying to use chakra that is in the middle as well.

A look of concentration crossed his features as he thought about what he was required to do, after announcing the jutsu a small flux in the chakra and realising that Naruto had indeed completed the jutsu successfully, albeit with a lot of wasted chakra, but successful none the less. With such large reserves at such a young age it was to be expected that his control over his chakra would be poor. With this in mind he thought about the final thing that he had to teach Naruto, the bunshin. Kakashi had serious doubts as to whether he would ever be able to get Naruto to learn this technique. Naruto's chakra reserves could be likened to a dam and the dam gates. It was like trying to get only a cup's worth of water from the dam gates while trying to not let any excess water to escape. In other words impossible. Well, he'd be damned if he didn't try any way.

"Naruto, there is one thing that I would like to teach you today. It's called the bunshin. It will create an illusion so it looks like there is more than one of you. However, if you can't get it after a few tries, don't worry, it's not your fault. The hand signs are as follows."

For the third time that day Kakashi demonstrated a set of hand seals, this time for the bunshin. Naruto attempted the bunshin and as expected the thing formed for a second before collapsing.

"As I thought, you have far too much chakra for you to use that technique effectively"

"Naruto tried to use the jutsu again, only to achieve the exact same results. Now starting to panic that his Sensei would not teach him anymore, due to him being unable to make a bunshin, he started trying harder. Recognising the signs from his body language, Kakashi walked over and out a hand on his shoulder. Naruto flinched at the action, expecting some form of physical punishment for his failure. When none came he looked up and saw Kakashi looking down at him with genuine concern in his eyes, the flinch had not gone unnoticed.

"Remember, I said not to worry about it if you couldn't do it," it's not your fault.

Hardly daring to believe his luck at someone else being nice to him, particularly after a failure, his eyes started to get moist with tears, though tears of joy at finding another person to add to the very short list of people who he could trust.

"Come on, let's get you back to the Hokage. We've done enough work for today. Let's head back."

*********************************************************************

In the Hokage's office Naruto was left to flit about and look at the paintings on the wall in the office while Kakashi talked to the aging Hokage.

"Well how was it?" the Hokage asked, fully expecting to hear stories of how Naruto really tried his patience when he was far too hyperactive for Kakashi's liking. Imagine is surprise when Kakashi reported back.

"Very good actually, it was…enjoyable. While he might bounce of off the walls when he goes through everyday life, when he is being taught something he wants to learn, he seems most attentive. Though I can't imagine him keeping the enthusiasm through one of the more boring academy lectures."

The Hokage had to raise his eye brows, Kakashi Hatake, enjoying teaching? What next, his student Jiraiya gave up his perverted ways?

"There are a few issues I need to discuss with you though." Kakashi informed the Kage.

"Such as?" Sarutobi replied, showing that he was intent on listening.

"His chakra reserves are enormous, almost at Chuunin level." to say that Sarutobi was surprised was like saying Tsunade had a slight alcohol addiction problem. Kakashi continued, ignoring the shocked look on his commander's face "It's so large that he can't perform a basic bunshin. I was wondering if you would give me permission to train him in more advanced chakra control techniques.'

"What did you have in mind?"

"Tree walking, if possible. Most of his assailants these days are the villagers, if he can walk up the side of a building and just stay there for a while till we get to him then there shouldn't be too much hassle in getting him to save himself. It could also lower the body count as I could arrest the people responsible, instead of having to kill them on the spot in order to punish them, while trying to make haste to get Naruto to the hospital."

Sarutobi had to admit Kakashi did bring up some very good points.

"Very well, just do me a favour; don't turn him into a brilliant shinobi at the cost of turning him into a complete social recluse. I don't want him becoming like the Aburame, or worse yet, like Itachi. Only business and nothing else; no spark of life. I often wonder what it is that the Uchiha did to remove the life from that boy's eyes."

Kakashi smiled at the thought, "Don't worry, I don't think that there is ever a chance of that happening."

"Oh and one last request before you are dismissed," Kakashi stopped himself before he shunshined out of the place leaving Naruto with the Sandaime. Sarutobi chucked a wad of notes at Kakashi, "Get him some new clothes. Preferably 2 sets. One dark and another bright. If he can train in stealth in the bright clothes in broad daylight, then he should have no problem in hiding himself in the night with dark clothes on."

Kakashi only nodded before taking the ryou and Naruto in hand and simply walking to the shopping district where they could make their purchases.

Just before leaving he decided to add some information to the lot that he had already reported to the Hokage,

"By the way, I've taken it upon myself to teach him how to swim."

"Hmmm…yes; thank you. That was something I completely overlooked when I was considering what to have you teach him.

*********************************************************************

Arriving at the shopping district, Kakashi was itching to whip out a little orange book and continue reading from where he left off, but reasoning told him other wise and he decided that it was for the best that he leave his reading till later. Both sensei and his late wife had constantly admonished him for reading 'Jiraiya's smut'. Both respected the man as a shinobi of the highest calibre, but would not tolerate the orange book he authored. He somehow felt it would dishonour their memories if he read the book they so heavily protested in front of their son.

He decided to simply settle for searching for a shop that would sell the items that he required. The first store that he walked into instantly glared at Naruto before turning to a highly annoyed Kakashi.

"Is there a problem, shopkeeper-san?" Kakashi inquired through a dangerously narrow eye and a voice daring the proprietor to say the wrong thing.

"I'm sorry, sir I didn't notice you, I just happened to see _that_ walk in behind you. Don't worry I'll let it out then we can continue our business" referring to Naruto as though he was some kind of filthy animal.

"You didn't see me? Me a man standing some 6 ft tall, yet you notice the barely 3 ft boy, hiding behind my own legs no less." Kakashi retorted, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Now that he had put it that way the shop owner realised just how stupid he had made himself look. Not as though it mattered,

"In any case, my business concerns Naruto, so if you feel that you cannot serve us we will simply leave and be sure that no self respecting shinobi will ever be doing any shopping here."

The shop keeper had only now just realised just how much business he had lost, and was gaping like a fish out of water because of it. Kakashi and Naruto had already left so there was no chance of repairing the situation.

Back out on the street with Naruto and Kakashi, they were looking to find another shop to give their business to. Along the way they came across a shop called 'Higurashi Ninja Equipment'. He pulled Naruto in and they began walking to the counter. The person behind the counter this time addressed Kakashi first,

"Good afternoon, how may I serve you today?"

This was going to be a good way to gauge whether or not they would be shopping here in the future. Kakashi stepped aside to reveal Naruto.

"Actually, where here for Naruto," he stated keeping an eye on the man's reaction the whole time

"Sorry little fella," the shopkeeper said, didn't see you down there.

'Just the way it should be, instead of insisting that Naruto was more noticeable than a man he was standing behind, roughly twice his height' thought Kakashi while nodding to himself

"Yes we are looking for some clothes to for Naruto, a set of dark clothes and a set of bright clothes."

"Well let's take care of the dark clothes first. Name's Keiichi Higurashi, by the way; store owner. No need for you to introduce yourselves, you're both very well known around this city."

In short order, Keiichi had picked out a simple dark blue, almost black t-shirt and pair of shorts and given them to Naruto to try on. While in the change rooms Kakashi asked Keiichi,

"You evidently recognise Naruto, yet you serve him without any issues, why so different from the rest of the population here?" he asked "Not that I'm complaining of course." quickly adding the afterthought.

Keiichi looked very pointedly at Kakashi and said

"I sell katana here, Hatake-san. I can tell the difference between the weapon and the object that prevents is from cutting indiscriminately." Kakashi nodded understanding the message. It seems that he would be giving the Hokage a recommendation to use this shop in preference to others in the future. At some point through his musing Naruto had wondered out of the change stall and waited for inspection. Kakashi nodded his approval and decided to move onto the bright clothes.

"Well do you have anything in bright colours?" Kakashi was doubtful as there wasn't often a need for ninja to attract attention to themselves, and if there was, there would be far more efficient methods of doing it.

"Well, the best I have is this jump suit. Though it's so hideous that I don't think that any one would ever want to wear it." he took one the dust covered suits out from under the counter displaying what he was talking about. Kakashi could easily see what he was talking about, though it seemed Naruto had found a love greater than ramen, well almost.

"Awesome, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it." he yelled in excitement

"Apparently we are taking the jumpsuit as well as the dark clothes. How much for the lot?" Kakashi mused to Keiichi

"I'll charge you for the cost of the dark set only this time. I didn't think that I would ever get rid of those jumpsuits. When he grows out of that one just come back. I have more in larger sizes under the counter that I don't dare display."

That settled it in Kakashi's mind; this shop was getting a recommendation to the Hokage, not only serving them in the first place, but inviting them back for subsequent visits.

*********************************************************************

When Naruto and Kakashi walked back into Sarutobi's office, the Sandaime had for a split second thought that the sun had walked through the office doors. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he realised it was Naruto in an extremely bright jump suit. Realising that they had gone and completed their shopping trip and that it was now time for Naruto to return to the orphanage. Kakashi informed the Hokage about Keiichi's shop and then proceeded to drop Naruto at the orphanage.

After dropping Naruto off to a smiling matron, Kakashi left, the smile from the matron's face disappearing immediately. She hit Naruto across the head before ordering him inside, or else no scraps for him to eat tonight. He scuttle in as fast as he could, not that it would have changed anything, her mind was already made up and Naruto was getting nothing to eat that night.

With nothing to do he started meditating the way Kakashi-sensei had taught him. He was focussing on brining his chakra out. Before long he was slipping into what had to be a dream

_Mindscape_

_He was walking a long and dilapidated corridor that could only be truly described as a sewer. When he came to the end of the passage he found a giant iron cage, with some funny symbols on a piece of paper attached to the door. Inside he could see an animal thrashing about, a fox he realised. He tried calling out to it, but it appeared not to hear to him. He tried again, calling louder this time, still achieving no response. In the animal's wild thrashing, it turned to look him, and stared straight through him, as though it wasn't seeing anything all. Puzzled, he didn't pay too much attention as his surroundings slowly started fading into black around him. Then he knew nothing as sleep finally enveloped him._

The next morning he had no recollection of any of the strange happening that occurred last night. He simply waited for Kakashi to show so that he could continue his training. He had enjoyed spending time with Kakashi; he payed attention to him long enough, and not the usual kind of attention the villagers payed either.

The days training was spent further practicing what he had learnt yesterday, introducing arms to his swimming, something that he didn't quite get as he was having trouble remembering to blow bubbles and move his arms and legs, or he would forget to breath. Kakashi had told him what he had achieved was good any way as the stroke looked good, he just had to remember he wasn't a fish, the inference causing Naruto to giggle. It was then that Kakashi realised that this was the first time he had heard Naruto laugh, not that devious laugh that let him knew that a prank was coming, but a genuine laugh from joy. It was something that warmed his heart, something that he vowed to make happen more often. The hand seals and jutsus were also reviewed, though Kakashi intentionally left of the bunshin.

*********************************************************************

Over the weeks Naruto was introduced to the academy taijutsu style, a very basic style, used only to give beginners a foundation on which to build their own techniques if they didn't come from a clan with clan taught techniques. He was also given a crash course in physical exercise in order to help him move faster and give him a higher stamina, not only in battle, but to outrun the villagers. It was best if he did not attack, though it was fact that he would only be doing so in self defence, the civilian council took precedence over the shinobi in purely non-shinobi matters. This included punishment of 'criminals' when necessary. It also included adoption when the few who sympathised with Naruto's plight tried to adopt him, they found their every motion blocked.

Finally, he was given the stealth training he so desperately needed. He learned about moving in the shadows, he learned about successfully hiding himself. Most importantly he learned that it was possible to be quiet once in a while, something that appeared to be a gift from the heavens.

The most memorable day was quite possibly when Kakashi introduced him to tree climbing. The twist was that Naruto couldn't use his hands. Kakashi had demonstrated as usual, and it had Naruto so excited he tried to charge up the nearest tree. It was amazing that he managed to get four paces up the tree considering that he did not realise that he had to apply chakra to the soles of his feet in order to 'glue' himself to the tree bark.

*********************************************************************

It was some weeks after Naruto had started training with his sensei when Kakashi turned up at the orphanage to pick him up for the day's regimen. When he got there an eagerly awaiting Naruto was nowhere to be found. Upon asking the matron she stated

"I kicked him out last night. He sitting with his eyes closed and had some blue energy flying around him. I couldn't risk the other children's safety in case he was preparing an attack. So I kicked him out."

Kakashi was livid. There was a protocol to be followed if there was ever a situation with Naruto, and she had just blown right past it. Right now he couldn't really detain her, it was more important that he found him immediately before anyone tried to harm him. He quickly made 6 kage bunshins, similar to the regular bunshin, but they could interact with their environment while the regulars could not and when dispelled any info gained would be passed to the user. They went off in pairs, one to look after Naruto should a pair find him, the other to dispel to pass the location to the real Kakashi.

It was not long before the real Kakashi had found Naruto huddled in a dumpster, in a nearby ally-way. The bunshins were dispelled as Kakashi too Naruto to his house to get cleaned up before taking him to the civilian council.

This was the last straw. He was only a boy only just past his fourth birthday, living out on the streets. There was no way he could live on his own, he was simply too young and how in hell would he manage to maintain the place, much less find the money to eat and live. He walked into the appropriate sector of the office.

The person working on the desk looked up, saw who Kakashi was with and looked back down just as fast. Kakashi coughed to gain her attention before calmly saying

"I'm here to have Naruto Uzumaki put under my legal guardianship."

The woman didn't even bother looking up, "You will have to join the queue."

Kakashi couldn't tell if she was trying to be funny, because the room was completely empty, frankly he didn't care. He was fed up and he was here to put an end to it. He shot a quick look at Naruto and realised that he was distracted by something outside the door. Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate and said rather forcefully,

"Will you at least look at me when you take to me?"

When she looked up she was immediately caught in a genjutsu given off by the Sharingan eye in his left socket.

"You will get me the forms to fill that will put Naruto under my legal guardianship."

She walked off in a zombie like state, retrieving the forms from a nearby filing cabinet, waiting for Kakashi to finish filling out the forms. After an hour and many miles of red tape, Kakashi and Naruto walked out of the guardianship office, with papers in hand stating that Kakashi was now Naruto's legal guardian.

He idly thought that he would have to go and inform the Hokage of the change in both his and Naruto's living arrangements. Naruto, well he couldn't get over the fact that he had been adopted, and by Kakashi-sensei no less. He was so close to crying tears of joy, you could see the tears well in his eyes. Kakashi, finally felt he was on the road to repaying the man he considered a second father. Training Naruto just didn't feel right; it didn't feel enough, but now, he felt being closer to being complete and repaying the debt he felt h had incurred to Minato Namikaze.

*********************************************************************

End of Chapter One

The choice for the second pairing are

Hinata – ROFL when I typed her name out the first spelling suggestion was piñata

Female Haku

Tayuya

Ayame

Anko

Sorry if you wanted to see anyone else. These are the only characters I can do with any ability (at least I hope). I would like to do either Sasame or Isaribi but I don't know how he met them (I have only watched up to the episode where Ebisu gets knocked out by Jiraiya after the preliminary selection of the Chuunin exams)

Secondly, I'm taking the polls as a secondary. If I can plan it out properly I might have to remove a girl, most likely either Anko of Shizune. If I do and you wanted to see Naruto with either one I apologise. After all I've just taken you opinion and effectively thrown it back in your face, so once again, I am sorry if that occurs.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Eternal Chimera**

Right this is chapter 2 of 'The Eternal Chimera'. Before I do break into the story I have some notes to make.

First and foremost is a thank you. This goes to people that have reviewed and given any form of feedback. Particular thanks are given to _vampire-emo-slave _and _Masked Critic_, for pointing out errors within the text, or else methods to improve my writing. I already wrote this in a PM to one of the two (sorry can't remember to whom) that these chapters are written at a time that I am not particularly alert. While I do check my work over before publishing, I still appreciate the feedback as it lets me know that I need to be more diligent in my proof reading and do I apologise for any mistakes that do slip through.

Remember, even if it seems trivial; put it in the review, that is what they are there for and I appreciate any input. That being said, is it possible to change and edit text that has already been published? That way I can correct the parts highlighted to me.

Secondly comes an apology. This is to those that wanted to vote for Shizune. She will be removed from the list of potential pairing with Naruto. Fortunately no one has actually put her as their first preference for a pair so it didn't change anything. So this apology really goes to future voters. As a side note to these people, if you did vote for her, feel free to PM me and place a second vote for one of the girls still remaining.

Finally an explanation of my methods. If you voted for more than one girl then (and I do apologise for this) I must inform you that I am only receiving one vote per person per chapter. I took the name of the first girl mentioned in the vote and added that to the respective tally. Fear not, I'll still be taking votes for another 3-5 chapters. Not sure on exactly when the relationship (romantic and beyond friendship) with the voted girl will start, but not before a minimum of 3 chapters including this one.

The first part consists of a slight catch up of the overly significant events with Naruto and any development he has made. The rest is more of the story. Don't worry the flashback here isn't me making him a god or anything of the sort. If I had to place him, I'd put him at a final year academy student for his ability to do the jutsu, but very poor chakra control, something like the beginner that he is.

Right sorry about an AN that was nearly a page long.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

*********************************************************************

**Two years later**

Naruto was still living with Kakashi and loving every minute of it. In the past Naruto didn't really have many happy times, all he could remember were moments when did not have to fear for his life as a result of the villagers' persecution. These days he had times that he could look back upon in many years to come and say that they were actually joyous moments.

That didn't mean to say that the villagers that he had no bad memories while being under Kakashi's direct care. Though there was the odd attempt, there were far fewer attempts at Naruto's life.

In the two years that Kakashi had spent looking after Naruto many things had changed. Their relationship had been taken from that of a teacher and student to that of a mentoring older brother, Kakashi had left the ANBU and also put his reading of Icha Icha in hold.

Kakashi, for his part, had no idea how he had lived before Naruto, it was just so much fun now that he couldn't conceivably imagine living without him. He still remembered the conversation that he had with the Hokage that day and the chaos that ensued shortly after.

_FLASHBACK_

_Kakashi had just walked into the Hokage's office. Sarutobi greeted them somewhat surprised at seeing them, normally they would train and then return to report on the progress Naruto was making at the end of the week. Being only Wednesday he wasn't expecting to see either of them for a full two days, short of a mission that required Kakashi's skills specifically, seeing as he was being payed to tutor Naruto._

"_What can I do for you two today?" the Hokage asked, Kakashi wasted no time in his reply._

"_There is nothing that you can do for us. I just came to inform you that I have adopted Naruto before you hear something strange from another source."_

_If there was anything Sarutobi was expecting it was not that, his mouth fell open and his pipe dropped to the ground. He was at a loss for words._

"_How?" was all he managed to grunt out, not trusting himself to speak further. Kakashi wasn't even given time to answer as the door to the Hokage's office burst open. It was Asuka Haruno, Sarutobi looked past her to see his secretary giving him an apologetic look, he sent her a look back that seem to say that he knew that she could have done nothing to prevent it._

"_Hokage-sama, it has been brought to our attention that someone has adopted the Demo…" she caught herself just in time; it was almost a force of habit to call Naruto by such hate filled names. Once she had calmed herself and was thinking slightly clearer she restarted,_

"_It has been brought to our attention that someone has adopted Naruto Uzumaki."_

_The Hokage was about to answer her when someone beat him to the punch, Kakashi entered the conversation,_

"'_Brought to your attention'? I adopted Naruto not half an hour ago, how could you possibly know so quickly?" Kakashi of course knew how they knew. There was some sort of plot to never have Naruto adopted; ensuring that he always had a miserable life. It was that it was impossible to prove. Now that the civilian council had found out so soon after the papers had been processed and well before any formal complaint could follow the proper official channels. The person that had served him at the desk must have realised the paperwork that she held in her hands must have contacted Asuka Haruno, a recent addition to the civilian council. Though she had only just joined the council, she was fast on her way to becoming its head, due to her unrivalled and thinly veiled hatred of Naruto. Nobody could work out where the hatred came from, she had not lost any one particularly close in the Kyuubi attack, yet the hatred was there and burning stronger than any Uchiha katon jutsu._

"_Yes, there are special circumstances that surround that boy, as I'm sure you are well aware. For this reason we have called a council meeting of both the civilian and ninja sectors."_

_It was now Sarutobi's eyes that narrowed in suspicion. "How did you arrange the ninja council to convene? The only four people that have such power in the village are myself, and any one of the three village elders." He had his suspicions though he knew she would never confirm them._

"_That is not the issue right now. Both of the councils are gathered and are waiting in the council chambers. It is best that we do not delay them any further." She had dodged the question and attempted to redirected his attention. He was aware of this but as it stood he would rather just get the meeting out of the way._

*********************************************************************

_In the council chambers there was a large ruckus. Asuka drew their attention, announcing the reason that we are gathered. _

"_We are here to discuss the implications of the adoption of one Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto for his part couldn't understand why his adoption was such a big deal for everyone else. This should be special to only him and Kakashi sensei, with a select few others to be allowed to celebrate with them._

"_Before we begin, I would like to ask why the ninja council was also gathered." Sarutobi demanded_

"_Simple, to decide upon what punishment should be suitable for Kakashi Hatake should we deem disciplinary action be necessary." Was Asuka's smug response._

"_The ninja council is only concerned with dealing punishment for professional misconduct. As such there is no need for them to be here. Any member of the ninja council that does not wish to witness this has my permission to leave."_

_No sooner than the words had left Sarutobi's mouth Hiashi Hyuuga and Fugaku Uchiha had shunshined out of the chambers. After having part of her plan demolished by the Hokage, Asuka settled for trying to remove Naruto from Kakashi's guardianship._

"_Well, it still remains to be seen whether it is a good idea for Hatake-san should be allowed to adopt Naruto."_

_Maintaining his usual air of casual indifference Kakashi asked "On what grounds do you deem me unfit to look after Naruto?"_

"_We are all aware of Naruto's unique circumstances." She said, skirting around stating that he had a demon sealed within him for fear of her life. "We are simply unsure how stable he is or whether he will attack. We simply have the adopting family or individual's best interests at heart."_

_Kakashi was smiling, she had made it too easy, "Are you telling me that an aged matron with no battle skills is better equipped than me to handle Naruto if such an unlikely event occurred? Me; a highly experienced Jounin of considerable standing in this village?"_

_Sarutobi cast his eyes about the room, Shikaku Nara, while appearing to be asleep was paying close attention to the proceedings and had a knowing grin about his face if you cared to look closely enough. Tsume Inuzuka, head of the Inuzuka Clan, Chouza Akimichi, head of the Akimichi clan and Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the Yamanaka clan were not even bothering to hide their glee. For many years each had made attempts to adopt Naruto into the family, each failing every time. Shibi Aburame's facial expression could not be seen through the high collared jacked and dark sunglasses he wore, but there had to have been at least a smirk on his face from the proceedings. While he had not made an active effort to adopt Naruto, he or his clansmen had time and time again rendered assistance; using their kikai bugs to mercilessly drain an assailant's chakra till they died. Attacking a mere child, more defenceless than one of their bugs deserved no mercy._

_Kakashi continued while Asuka was still mulling over his words, "Also if he really is as dangerous as you insist, then is it wise to leave him in a place filled with so many other vulnerable children?"_

_Asuka was quick on the rebuttal, "As you said, it is very unlikely that he will ever attack, so there is no risk." _

'_HA! Got you there, take that you stupid one-eyed cyclops' raged the inner persona that all Haruno women possess, not stopping to consider that 'one-eyed cyclops' was not much of an insult._

_Kakashi smiled once again "Just as you say, it is very unlikely that he would ever attack. So there is no risk and I shouldn't need fear and no reason for you to worry about my well being now that I have adopted him._

_She was beat and he knew it. She had nothing to say; she simply opened and closed her mouth like a fish gulping air._

_Not wanting to waste any more time here, Sarutobi called the meeting to an end before any other member of the civilian council grew a brain and tried to find some way to remove Naruto from Kakashi's custody._

_FLASHBACK END_

Kakashi still thought back to that day when he felt like he needed a lift in his day. After all it was not often that you got to silence the civilian council's power broker without the rest of them even getting a word in, almost making it pointless having gathered them in the first place.

Right now Naruto and Kakashi were playing a game of hide and seek; this was to practice stealth techniques. It wasn't quite as simple as the civilian version. The hiding and seeking was still the same, but the person needed to learn to hide so much better if they wanted to avoid being caught.

Another difference was that the person was allowed to move around while they were hiding. This was a double edged sword, to move to remain concealed, or to remain still and avoid giving your position way; it was a very fine balance as any movement had to be precise and not alert the 'enemy'.

This was often a game he had played with his genin team, though there were a few extra rules. Like using a genjutsu to disorient the searcher, though it had to be placed very subtly otherwise you were classed as being found.

As he continued his search pattern he heard a rustling in the bushes nearby, a normal person would have passed it off as the breeze, but Kakashi was not a normal person. He had found Naruto he walked over to the bushes and placed his hand on Naruto's head. He had done quite well not to be spotted considering he was still into wearing those hideous orange jumpsuits that they managed to obtain from Keiichi.

Kakashi had many other games that he used to teach Naruto strategy, it always worked best with games. He was still a firm believer that children learned best when they were having fun with what they were doing, something that Naruto seemed to prove over and over again.

Kakashi taught him strategy. The ideal game to play would have been shougi, but seeing as Naruto was too young he settled for snakes and ladders. The first thing he had taught Naruto to do was how to cheat at throwing the dice and always get the number that you wanted. Of course once Naruto had learnt this he always went for six, only to end up back on the beginning square after the 5th roll very time. He had quickly learnt that it was not always the highest number that got him the furthest, but sometimes that a lower number could be better, especially if you landed on a ladder. With that in mind, Kakashi then made the objective to reach the goal square in as few turns as possible. It took Naruto many weeks of experimenting before he got the optimal route that Kakashi had planned in his head almost immediately. One he had done that he got out a different board, harder this time to nut out the correct route. Surprisingly, it took him less time than the original; he was learning to consider all his options faster and make correct choices.

Their training had continued over the years. He could now effectively do the henge and the kawarimi. Bunshin was still impossible for him to perform. Kakashi had kept to his word to Sarutobi and not taught him any of the higher level jutsu from his vast repertoire. His chakra control, while much better, was still not as good as Kakashi would have liked, particularly with all the tree walking training he was doing; then again Kakashi was using himself as a yard stick, a person that was already a genin by his Naruto's age.

He knew that using genjutsu was out of the question for Naruto, the best he could hope for was to teach him how to get himself out of them. This was easier said than done as it involved putting Naruto into a genjutsu, and the ones he knew were far too extreme to subject a child of barely 6 yrs old to. To help he sought out Kurenai Yuuhi, a promising young chuunin. She was far better than he was at genjutsu and was able to cast minor ones of her own creation on the spot, often used for punishing perverts.

When he had asked her to cast a genjutsu over Naruto showing a picture of Gai Maito chucking Ichiraku's ramen down the drain she gave him a quizzical look.

He gave her a sheepish grin and asked her not to question. The genjutsu was cast,

_GENJUTSU VISION_

"_YOSH! Someone's flames of youth have started to dwindle! To consume ramen, such an unyouthful act! I will make my own flames of youth burn even brighter by tipping this horrid ramen down the drain." Gai proceed to tip the ramen down a drain that had just magically appeared._

_VISION END_

That was all poor Naruto could take. The speech was enough to tolerate, green spandex was bad, the bowl haircut was worse, the fuzzy eye brows; well they were horrendous. But the compared to the evil of tipping perfectly good ramen down the drain, the rest was nothing. Naruto was panting hard, with a horrified look on his sweat covered face; never had he seen such an evil thing in his life, he had to get out and did the only thing he could remember Kakashi telling him to do; emit a large pulse of chakra to end the jutsu.

Kakashi for his part was grinning. He had just taught Naruto to escape genjutsu all the while getting one up on his 'eternal rival' with him being none the wiser. Kurenai decided something were best left unasked and decided to stay and help Naruto train in order to reduce the amount of chakra he use to dispel the jutsu. Naruto agreed to be subjected to more genjutsu on the condition that he was ever to see ramen being wasted again.

*********************************************************************

It was now a new year and the day of the first day at the Konoha Ninja Academy.

"Aniki, are you going to take me to the academy today?"

Kakashi smiled a Naruto addressed him as his older brother,

'Rather fitting actually,' Kakashi thought, 'the son of the man I consider a surrogate father referring to me as his older brother.'

"Yes Naruto-otouto, don't worry, I'll see you off. This is an important day for you, I wouldn't is it for the world." Kakashi reassured, his one visible eye crinkling with kindness.

After a short breakfast, we find the pair roof hoping towards the ninja academy. Silently Kakashi thanked himself for all the physical training that he had done with Naruto over the past 2 years. It had consisted of swimming practice and daily jogging to improve his stamina and speed as well as a few exercises to build some strength into his muscles, though not too much as to affect his growth. While they weren't travelling anywhere near the speeds that Kakashi was used to, it would have driven him nuts to have to have travelled at ground level at civilian pace.

In 15 minutes they had reached the academy. Kakashi turned to Naruto with a few last messages.

"Alright, every time you come here from now on, I want you to time yourself. Each time you should aim to beat your best time in arriving here. You don't have to beat it every time, that would be ridiculous, just focus on getting here as fast as you can and remember don't claim you beat the time if you end up taking a shorter route." Kakashi watched as the devious smile on Naruto's face fell, he could read that smile any time now and often had a fairly good idea as to what Naruto was thinking when he used it, after all the were was something to be said for Naruto's unpredictability.

"Secondly, ask questions. Even if they make you feel stupid, ask them any way. You will learn more if you are asking questions. This will help you later on in ninja life." Kakashi didn't need to go much further than that, the explanation would be lost, but it was a vital part of being a ninja. Questioning everything, from information given to the reality of one's surroundings was vital. Even if the question was asked only in one's head, it was better to answer yourself, rather than have a question unasked and thus unanswered, particularly in the field.

Naruto gave Kakashi a hug, no longer flinching at human contact like he had done only 2 short years ago. Kakashi watched his retreating back for a while, before shunshining home. He had put of reading the Icha Icha book series for 2 whole years now, he'd be damned if he didn't catch up while he had the chance.

*********************************************************************

Naruto was looking through each class list attached to each of the doors. He finally came to a door which had his name posted on the class list. He cracked a wide grin as he recognised some of the names on the list. Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Shino Aburame were all on his class list as well. Over the two year period the 5 of them had grown quite close; well the four of them had. They were about as friendly as anyone had ever been with an Aburame, not for want of trying, but due to Shino being so withdrawn like the rest of his clan.

Two other names also stuck out; Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. He recognised the names, though didn't get the same thrill of excitement that went through him when he saw the other four boys' names. Ino was polite to him when they were with their parents, but when their parents weren't watching she avoided all four boys like the plague. It wasn't due to her parents' attitudes towards Naruto, simply that she thought that boys were 'icky' and tried to spend as little time with them as possible.

Sakura was a different kettle of fish all together. Naruto and Sakura had something of a history together, as was to be expected; it was hardly surprising that Asuka's highly negative view of Naruto had rubbed off on her daughter, indeed going as far to actively warn her daughter and tell her to keep away from the boy.

Sakura for her part could not see what was so bad about the boy, but her mother had told her to keep away and not become friends. When she went to the park she found a group of children no older than the age of five teasing Naruto about everything, from his orange clothes to his whisker like marks on his face. Sakura, glad that they were for once not teasing her, joined in. Ino, could be seen somewhere in the back ground not participating, but not saying anything in Naruto's defence, like the boys were.

This continued on for weeks until Ino finally approached Sakura

_FLASHBACK_

"_Sakura, why do you make fun of Naruto?"_

"_Because everyone else does." The answer was straight forward, to the point and yet it still confused the young Yamanaka, Ino pressed on, determined for more answers._

"_But I see you get teased and called names and you don't like it. So if you don't like it why make fun of Naruto?" _

"_Because when I teas him everyone forgets to make fun of me. I think that they even like me a little when I say mean things to Naruto. I…I just want to have friends. They make fun of me for my big forehead and pink hair. I just want to have a friend." Sakura explained, almost on the verge of tears as she finished. Ino came to her own conclusions slowly,_

"_So if I be your friend, you'll stop picking on Naruto like the rest, right?" Ino surmised._

_Sakura was in shock; someone as popular as Ino was offering to be her friend. Not really having anything to say, she simply nodded. True, since that point neither Ino nor Sakura could have been happier. While the boys were kind to her she never really like laying with them, so she was glad to have a girl to play with. Sakura was glad to finally have a friend and someone that would stick up for her when the bullies came back. After this, not once did she feel the need to pick on Naruto again, after all she had a friend of her very own._

_FLASHBACK END_

Naruto walked into the class and noticed that three f his four friends were already seated, only Kiba was missing. He sat on Shikamaru's left while Chouji was seated on his right. This left space for Kiba to sit on Naruto's own left and the group could sit together though school. Kiba siddled into the class only a few minutes after Naruto. Naruto failed to notice as he was now talking note of the rest of his classmates. There was a boy in the corner with obsidian black hair. He was wearing a blue t-shit and ninja sandals with a white pair of shorts. He also had bandaging going around his shins as well as his forehead. He didn't seem to be talking to anyone, but there did seem o be an unusually large number of girls sitting around him. The next person he took notice of was a girl with indigo hair that seemed as though she was trying to mimic a turtle by disappearing into her massively oversized jacket. The jacket was beige in colour, and was complimented by a pair of blue three quarter length shinobi pants. The thing that held Naruto's attention though was her eyes. From what he could see they had no pupils and reminded him of the full moon, something he loved starting at with either his friends or his aniki when they all had the time.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the rough opening of the door to the room. A man with silver hair walked in first, closely followed by a man with brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and a scar across the bridge of his nose.

The man with the ponytail spoke first,

"Good morning class, my name is Iruka Umino and this is my colleague Mizuki Bakamono, though you may refer to us as Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei. Together we will be your Chuunin instructors through your academy life, providing tuition in the ninja arts as well as areas such as battle tactics, survival skills, mathematics, language and Konoha's history." Many a snigger had broken out during Iruka's introduction of Mizuki, not that he could really blame them.

The day started out with the typical self introductions (AN, sorry, but I'm not going to run, through these, I have a feeling that this chapter is going to end up rather long as it is). This was followed up by a history lesson, something that the students would deem the second most unwanted thing to hear in their entire academy life. The coveted first place went to Iruka's patented 'Big Head' jutsu, which was discovered a short while later when nearly everyone was asleep.

The lecture was followed up by the highly anticipated lecture in chakra, which was a complete let own, they only really discussed what chakra was and its uses; there was no practical which thoroughly disappointed many of the students, mostly those who had not accessed their chakra yet.

*********************************************************************

Elsewhere Kakashi was wondering around, not really sure of what he should do with he regained freedom. The decision was soon taken out of his hands when and ANBU officer shunshined right in front of him.

"Hatake-san, the Hokage has requested your presence."

Fully expecting the ANBU to shunshin away again, Kakashi started to make his way down the street once again. Kakashi turned and said to the man

"You can leave now. Your message has been passed on."

"Actually I have orders to irritate you until you actually arrive at the Hokage's office."

"Well I'd love to see you try. I live with Naruto, so I've built up a pretty high resistance to irritating things." Kakashi had a smug look about his face.

"The Hokage did warn me of such, so he gave me the ultimate battle plan. Henge!"

Looking sceptical, Kakashi waited for the smoke to clear with a sceptical look replacing the smug one he was currently wearing. His scepticism soon turned to absolute horror, the ANBU had henged into Maito Gai, his 'eternal rival'.

'No he wouldn't!' Kakashi though wildly, his stomach knotting with apprehension.

"YOSH! LET THE POWER OF YOUTH EXPLODE!"

He did, and Kakashi wasn't having any of it. If all it took was a visit to the Hokage then so be it; anything was better than that, well…nearly anything.

*********************************************************************

At the Hokage tower an old man waited patiently for the visit he was surely about to receive. 2 minutes after having sent the ANBU agent Kakashi Hatake was standing before him; it had to be some kind of record.

"That was below the belt Hokage-sama." Kakashi pointed an accusing finger at the aging Hokage. He simply smiled at Kakashi, finally having something against the eternally tardy ninja.

"Come now Kakashi, we are ninja, there are no real rules and certainly no line below which we cannot hit." The grin never leaving his face.

The grin suddenly disappeared, showing that he was going to be completely serious now. Kakashi noticing the change in demeanour responded accordingly by withdrawing his hand and standing to attention, showing that he was listening.

"I have an offer, for you. I want you to listen to the whole thing before you decline. I want you to rejoin ANBU." Detecting that Kakashi was about to interrupt as he thought that was the whole offer, he quickly spoke again, raising his voice as he continued.

"I want you to be assigned to my personal guard here in the village. There are many benefits to this. The risk is far lower than that of any other ANBU missions, this way you stay in the village when you are on duty and you don't have to leave Naruto unattended for days. Finally, financially you will be better off. You have been surviving for the past couple of years on the monthly stipend that I allow you out of the budget. This will give you the chance to earn money far above that monthly allowance."

Kakashi mulled it over in his head. The two things that had Kakashi most concerned about rejoining the ANBU were the mission risk and leaving Naruto alone while he was away on missions. If Kakashi were to die while he was out on a mission then Naruto would be left alone again. If Naruto were to die while Kakashi left him to go on a mission, Kakashi may very well committing sepaku. This offer removed those two factors.

"What are the hours?" Kakashi asked, hoping that he would say that it was from 9 am till 3 pm; the hours that Naruto was in the academy.

"6 am till 2.30 pm. Eight hour shifts with a 30 mins 'on call' paid break. In other words if I call you through those 30 mins you drop what you are doing and come. In fact, if I call you at any time between those hours, you drop what you are doing and come." Sarutobi finished with a rather sternly, Kakashi of realised that the Hokage was referring to his tardy ways.

There wasn't much need for further consideration; the hours were not perfect, but better than he could have received.

"I accept. Thank you for the kind offer Hokage-sama.

"Good, you start next week and Kakashi, be on time _every _time. This appointment is one that many would give their left hand for. Just as easily as I have given it I can just as easily take you of the duty. Dismissed." With a sharp nod Kakashi shunshined home, realising that he would not have the time to read starting next week, so he was going to get through all he could in the week he had left, blood supply permitting of course.

*********************************************************************

The weeks to come were hardly anything of note; Kakashi had started his job as one of the Hokage's personal guards. At the end of the month he was pleasantly surprised with the pay cheque he received, more than enough to cover both his Icha Icha addiction as well as Naruto's ramen addiction and then leave some left over for the other more…essential…essentials in life.

Naruto was thoroughly enjoying school, well anything practical anyway. The only real subject that Naruto found interesting was history and only when it specifically included the Yondaime Hokage. While the other Kages were 'cool and powerful and stuff' nothing beats beating the strongest demon of them all; the Kyuubi no Youko.

He found the practical side of anything rally easy, mostly because he had been trained in it in the last 2 years. There were other exceptional children in his year. Ino, Kiba and Chouji and Sakura all shone in given fields; Kiba and Chouji in taijutsu the girls more so in the use of jutsu or in Sakura's case bookwork and academics. There were two standout students. The first was Shino and the second and current top of the class was Sasuke, the boy that Naruto had observed from afar on the very first day. In fact, if it weren't for his book work, Naruto would have been right up there with them as one of the topped ranked students in the class, consequently, he was only ranked average, due to his abysmal academic ability.

There were two students that baffled the teachers. Both of them were clan heirs, so it was expected that they would do better than they currently were. Hinata Hyuuga, while not being a genius was still fairly apt at book work, though not enough to earn her the top place amongst the potential kunoichi. Her ability was brilliant, almost top of the class, in fact there were only 3 people that could beat her; Naruto, Shino and Sasuke. The thing that baffled the teachers was that her taijutsu was terrible. She came from a clan that was known to use what is regarded as the strongest taijutsu style in Konoha, the Gentle Fist. Yet every time she entered a match she was defeated, it was clear to the chuunin instructors that every time she had a clear shot she hesitated, not wanting to injure her opponent, ultimately leading to her defeat.

The second person that mystified the instructors was Shikamaru Nara. He was poorly ranked in taijutsu, often forfeiting his matches. His ability to use the jutsu was relatively competent, but it was his test scores that confused them. Every time he would answer only so many of the questions in the exam, getting all the ones he did answer correct. Though he seemed to have the potential to actually ace all of his test he only score enough to score exactly 50% leaving him with the lowest passing score of the class.

*********************************************************************

Before long half of the year had passed. Sasuke still maintained the overall top position in the class, while Shino was still hot on his heels. It was only very occasionally that Sasuke lost to any one, any if he did it was always to Naruto in a taijutsu match, simply for the blonde's unwillingness to give up and his freakish endurance.

The Uchiha clan council could not have him, would not have him 'losing' to any one in any regard, after all, they were the Uchiha; the strongest in the village. To give him the best advantage that he could have they enlisted the help of none other than his older brother to train his, after all he was a jounin already and only at the age of 11. At first he was reluctant to train him, though when he realised that their training time was not to be interfered with he quickly changed his mind.

It had always bothered Itachi that the Uchiha had rested on their laurels and claimed to be the greatest in the village, due to the sheer power of the Sharingan. It always annoyed Itachi that he was referred to as the 'Uchiha prodigy', as though saying that he only had power due to his clan of birth not his own hard work. It mad Itachi angry; not simply annoyed, irritated or any of those other more mild emotions, but outright furious that the clan of Sharingan wielders believed only in the betterment of the clan and not the village as a whole. With his younger brother under his tutelage he was determined to have at least one other Uchiha that saw his views, even if he had to beat it into his younger brother and that is exactly what he did.

_FLASHBACK_

"_So Sasuke, this will be our first time, not as brothers, but as sensei and pupil. As such you will regard me as sensei through this time." Itachi informed Sasuke, who all the while just remained silent, giving small nods that he had understood._

"_Now we will spar with me asking questions throughout. I will fight at your level, though should you get a question wrong, I will not check my hand and you will feel the full force of the blow._

"_We begin now. Sasuke, when you fight for whom are you fighting fo…" before the question had been completed it was already being answered._

"_The Uchiha clan." Sasuke answered, as though it were almost a conditioned response. Before he knew Itachi had moved, Sasuke was sent sprawling on the ground. Itachi's eyes showed no emotion._

"_Incorrect, try again. Who do you fight for?"_

"_Father…to make him proud." Sasuke was recoiled as a fist planted itself deep within his gut._

"_Wrong, you fight for your village. The village hands you the assignment, an assignment designed to benefit the village in some way, from the lowest of D ranks to the highest of S rank missions. We will try again, this time with a different question"_

_Sasuke nodded, not being able to speak properly after being winded by the punch. Itachi had said he was not going to check his hand, yet Sasuke had the distinct feeling he was anyway. The sparing had resumed and was in full throttle when Itachi quizzed him again._

"_Why is it that you are the top of your class? Why am I so powerful at such a young age?" Sasuke listened to the full question before choosing to respond. Once Itachi had finished only then did he speak up, feeling he had found the correct answer and avoided another painful blow._

"_It is because we are Uchiha." He was sent flying this time. It had made Itachi lose his temper._

'_To have the arrogance of our clan so firmly embedded into one so young, such a pity.'_

"_Try again. Why do we prevail over others, even above our own clansmen?"_

_Sasuke was panicking, why did he and his brother succeed and do better than others, even those inside their clan. If he and the rest of his clan were same in being Uchihas then he should not be able to prevail over them based on that merit alone. He knew what the answer was NOT, but couldn't figure out what the answer was. What did he and his brother have in common that they did not have in common with the rest of the clan. Well there was only one thing that they did in common and that was that they enjoyed training…that was it._

"_Because…because we work hard."_

_Sasuke closed his eyes, expecting a devastating blow for saying something so  
'un-Uchiha like', but nothing came. Then he looked up to see a smiling older brother._

"_Correct. We try hard and work for what we have, it was not simply given to us. Remember that the path of a ninja is not an easy one, but with some determination you can truly accomplish great things. Work hard and go beyond what this clan believes to be its best."_

"_Finally, there is one last question I would ask of you. Why do you fight?"_

_Sasukewas troubled by this question. An idiot would have answered immediately what he had been taught by his father and the clan council._

'_Fight for power and fight for the pride of the Uchiha.'_

_Sasuke was far from an idiot and realised this is the last answer Itachi would want to hear. Then he realised, if he did not fight for this purpose then he had no reason to fight, none of his own at least anyway._

"_Sasuke, this does not need to be answered right away. If you do not have one now, then develop one. All I ask is that you might tell me when you do, as a request from an older brother, not a task from your sensei."_

_FLASHACK END_

Itachi's training and questioning of some of his firmest belief continued throughout the rest of the school year. It was through this time that they actually became brothers by more than just title or by blood relation, but by their ties to each other.

Slowly Sasuke changed, changing those around him in the process. His rivalry with Naruto had not ended and had forced the young blond to work even harder if he ever wanted to be considered on the same level as Sasuke in at least taijutsu.

This in turn forced Kiba and Chouji to up their efforts not to get left behind by their friend. Shikamaru still had the mentality that it was all still far too 'troublesome'.

Ino and Sakura just as determined not to get left behind by the boys and prove their own worth started training harder to catch up the gap that seemed to have opened out over the few weeks. Hinata was not to feel the effects of such a thing as well. Her clan had deemed that Hanabi would make a far better heir to the Hyuuga than Hinata. As a direct result Hinata stopped receiving private training from her father who had opted to train Hanabi. Hiashi had his own secret agenda. He had declared Hanabi the heir to save her from receiving the caged bird seal on her third birthday. While it pained him to sever connections with his first child, he still had to protect he second born.

Hinata was completely unaware of the politics that surrounded both her and her younger sister, though due to the clan disowning her in all regards except name she was free to do as she please and do as she pleased she did. She was not going to be seen as weak by the rest of her class mates. They had already changed themselves for the better. She was now determined to look to the rest of her class as a source of inspiration and improve herself along with them. Where she once struggled to prove herself to her clan, she now thrived, proving herself to her classmates and sensei, all the while a genjutsu mistress watching from afar as the student she privately tutored excelled and improved in leaps and bounds.

To Mizuki and Iruka it was inconceivable that one class could change so drastically due to the change in attitude of one student, yet it had happened. Even many of the so called 'die-hard' fan girls had changed their ways. Sakura had often wondered if she would have been like that, liking Sasuke only to fit in with the crowd if she had not met and befriended Ino.

It seemed that there were going to be quite a few genin teams passing this year and not just the exam, but the jounin administered test as well.

********************************************************************

**One year later**

It was raining. It seemed as though heaven itself had opened up to share in the grief and mourning that was passing through the town like a ripple. It was a sad day for many and whispers were about. Snippets of conversation could be heard everywhere, all on the same topic of conversation.

"Did you hear?"

"Yes, did you?"

"That's right, all wiped out. Poor Sasuke is the only one that was left. How horrible."

"No one with the Sharingan survived. Only Sasuke; the last Uchiha."

Sasuke was not sure what to feel. On one hand there was the immeasurable grief and sorrow over losing one's family to one person in one night. On the other hand it was the villagers' conversations that made as though all of the clan had been wiped out. It was not the case. Sasuke was the only one who had any potential of bearing the Sharingan; that much was true. Yet those who still bore the Uchiha name yet not the bloodline still lived, the prized Sharingan, sadly no one acknowledge their pain.

His bother Itachi had gone on a rampage the previous night, killing all who could wield the Sharingan. In his rampage he had killed many who had married into the Uchiha family for power and prestige. The only members of this group allowed to live was Sasuke, the youngest with the potential the awaken the Sharingan and the many merchants or the like who had married into the clan who had genuinely fallen in love with an Uchiha, more often than not, a person that was an adult and was discarded as trash after they failed to awaked the Sharingan.

Sasuke, while not there to watch the full extent of the massacre, was there to see his beloved elder brother kill his father in cold blood.

_FALSHBACK_

_Sasuke walked into the compound doors only to her moans and wailings of pain as many people clung to loved ones. Dyed in red these people clung to the lifeless bodies of their treasured people, it seemed there was no pattern to it. Men, women children of all ages, the youngest being only a little older than Sasuke were all lying dead around him. He tried to ask them who had committed the crime, but he would get no response. He simply rushed of in the direction of his father's office._

_He opened the door only to receive a splatter of blood across his eyes, tainting his vision red. What he could see was his mother crying over his father's body as he slowly bled to death._

"_Itachi, please kill me too. Send me to be with the man I love." Even now Mikoto Uchiha was a devout wife. _

"_I'm truly sorry Oka-san, but I cannot grant you release. You must still look after Sasuke." Upon mention of her other son her frantic thoughts seemed to clear, she still had one more son to raise, it seems that it would be a while before she could join her beloved on the other side._

_Itachi turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke, I have left the only two people worthy to wield the Sharingan, you and me. This clan has been purged of its stupid ideals. Please remember all that I have taught you." Itachi silently prayed that he would remember the not only the lessons on the ninja arts, but also why he should work hard and not fall into the trap that of many Uchiha before him had fallen into._

"_Why?" Was all Sasuke could manage to voice._

"_Sasuke, sometimes even the mightiest of trees gets a limb that becomes infected and parasitic. To prevent the spread of infection and the corruption of the tree it is best to sacrifice that limb, even if it once had a great purpose to the tree."_

_Before Sasuke could ask anything further Itachi had left to avoid the ANBU officers he knew would be coming to his location while he waited here. Without further commotion he turned his back and would not be seen by any one that would recognise him for many years to come._

_FLASHBACK END_

There was a public memorial for the clan, many turned up.

Since that day there many had started fawning over Sasuke. It wasn't just the fangirls any more either, it w the village adults as well. Frankly it made him sick to see them put him on a pedestal while there were so many in his clan members that had lost loved ones, yet no assistance was not offered to them. Why? The connection was simple, because he was the one remaining person that could attain the Sharingan as well as produce an heir that was capable of receiving it as well.

Sasuke separated him from those that fawned over him and focussed on his training, surrounding himself with those that he knew would not give him an inch through their training time. There was a surprisingly large number of them, all of them from his class in the ninja academy.

Over time many of these people had supported him while he got over his grief. Naruto and Kiba had taken to playing pranks over the years, the ultimate was when Naruto used a variation of the henge to transform into a female version of himself with smoke covering the most intimate parts, knocking both Mizuki and Iruka out from a giant nosebleed each. Of course he had to run from both Ino and Sakura for degrading women everywhere. Later when questioned about how he developed the jutsu he retold about finding one of his brother's books and how he modelled the body after the ones seen in that, then adding some feminine grace to his face before completing the jutsu. Others simply helped him train instead of trying to find idiotic ways to make him laugh as Sasuke seemed most peace when training, perhaps because it was one of the good memories that he had with this brother.

This group that had formed; this number of 12 children, would be remembered as the greatest graduating class ever. Greater than the class that held any kage, greater than the class that saw the entry of the sannin into the ninja world. No other class, before or after them could lay claim to having 12 students of such high calibre when they graduated.

*********************************************************************

**Five years later**

It was the night of the graduation exam. Everyone was at home resting for the exam, well nearly every one. Naruto Uzumaki was at home panicking because he still could not do the bunshin jutsu. He was 12 now, and his father had explained to him that he simply had too much chakra to release such a small amount without there being any wastage. This didn't stop him. It was the thing that so many of his friends admired about him, he never gave up and he never stopped trying. Kakashi watched his little brother struggle for the umpteenth time. It was time he took pity on the boy. He had kept his promise to the Hokage from all those years ago, but it was time that he broke that promise in order to help a little by teaching a high level jutsu.

"Naruto, come here. I have something that will help you with the bunshin." Naruto wanting any advantage he could get quickly moved from his place in the training area of their backyard to where Kakashi was standing.

"This strictly speaking is not help with the bunshin, but a replacement technique seeing as you can't use it." Naruto grinned, Kakashi; seeing the imminent explosion of joy quickly cut through his thoughts.

"There is a condition to me teaching you this. It is that you must never teach this to any of your friends. The jutsu is classified as a kinjutsu for a reason. The chakra it takes for you to use the jutsu is enormous, if your friends tried, they could potentially end up dead. This is only safe for you to use because of your high reserves."

Naruto's eyes widened considerably, the gravity of what his older brother was saying sinking in.

"The jutsu is the kage bunshin." Kakashi demonstrated the hand signs, though unlike all those years ago he could do it with some speed and still trust that Naruto would see them.

Naruto resumed his place in the field and performed the jutsu. Immediately 5 clones popped up. It was unheard of, a boy not even a genin getting a jounin technique on the first try.

"Out of interest, how much chakra did you try to use." Kakashi asked trying to get a feel for Naruto's chakra level.

"Oh, only about the same amount that I use for 2 bunshin." It was Kakashi's turn to go wide-eyed. He has that much chakra. If he couldn't do the water walking and tree walking exercise Kakashi would have said Naruto had the worst chakra control in history.

'I think I get it now. He opens the gate to his chakra and then closes it to the level he needs it, which is why he can do the water walking and tree climbing. But when he opens it for the bunshin, the bit that escapes is already too much for that jutsu. It just means we are going to have to get him to control how rapidly he opens the gate to his chakra.' Kakashi had gained an understanding on his little brother's chakra control, level and usage, just by teaching him one jutsu.

Naruto, feeling content that he could now pass went to bed and waited for tomorrow to come.

*********************************************************************

The following day found Naruto and his class mates in the ninja academy each waiting for their chance to prove themselves worthy a genin of Konoha.

Iruka and Mizuki walked in the door. Iruka was the one to address for the last time as a class.

"All of you listen. The road has been long and many of us have had to put up with our share of trials before getting to this point. In just a few moments you will all be administered your genin tests. If you do pass you will be awarded your hitai-ate." This caused a stir amongst all the students.

"If Shino Aburame would come forward with me and Ami would go with Mizuki then we will get the testing underway." At this Naruto's head along with Sasuke and Ino's head all slammed on the desk multiple times.

"What in the hell do you three think you're doing?" Sakura asked puzzled by the behaviour.

The three looked at each other before Sasuke spoke for them all.

"The test is in alphabetical order."

After an hour or so there were only 2 people left in the room; Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke had let Ino go before him with Mizuki. Iruka came out not long after, so no words could be exchanged between the two. Naruto was left on his own until Mizuki came out to test him. Upon seeing the only examinee left a very vindictive smile came across Mizuki's face, how he was going to enjoy making the demon brat fail.

"Right the Naruto, the rules are simple. You need an average of 70% to pass. Failure in any one area will automatically disqualify you from the exam. Please demonstrate throwing accuracy with these 10 kunai. A bull's eye is work 10 marks, the perfect score is 100. Naruto looked around and saw marks from misthrown kunai to the left right, above and on the roof around the target. Hell, there were even some behind the throw line. Scoring a perfect 100 Naruto didn't even worry about that art of the test. The next part consisted of a taijutsu battle where Naruto and Mizuki would battle.

"Rules: you may not hide for the duration of the match, you must either be present to attack or defend, any taijutsu style is allowed. The match duration is 2 minutes or if you can land a blow on me. Full marks will be awarded to those that can either last the 2 minutes or land a hit. Naruto had started out with grand ideas of ending the match by landing a hit, but soon found that Mizuki was far too good an opponent, so he settled for seeing the timer out.

"Finally we test your capability of doing the three academy jutsu. They can be performed in any order. A simple demonstrated or not demonstrated is all that is awarded in this section."

Naruto used the kawarimi on a nearby book, getting ticked off as demonstrated, next was henge, he transformed into a replica of his older brother, complete with his book and everything.

The next one was the kicker, he was sure of it.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." Naruto cried out, shocking Mizuki that he knew such a high level jutsu. Mizuki still grinned.  
"Naruto, I asked you to perform the bunshin not the kage bunshin. Please demonstrate the correct jutsu."

"But I can't do the jutsu. Why should it matter any way? I performed a higher level jutsu." He argued his point knowing full well that perfect scores in other rounds would not make up for a zero in the final one.

"Well, then you fail." The words seemed like a slap across the face to Naruto. He left the room almost in tears.

*********************************************************************

Sitting on the swing, Naruto stared into space until a shadow blocked his light.

"Listen, I know I was hard but that that is only because I must officially say whether or not you can do the required jutsu." Naruto simply nodded mutely in understanding

"That being said there is an unofficial test that you may take in order to pass the exam, almost like a supplementary." Naruto looked up, hardly daring to believe his luck.

"This last test is a test of stealth. You must obtain the giant scroll kept in the Hokage's office. Success is deemed as getting to the forest undetected, failure is getting caught any time before I see you with the scroll. It was too good to be true. A stealth mission. He had been trained in this for the last 8 years; this was something he could do. He went home to prepare, putting on the set of dark clothes that he rarely ever wore. Orange may have been his favourite colour, but there was a time and a place for everything and a jumpsuit that screamed 'HERE I AM!' was not well suited for a stealth mission.

*********************************************************************

**Hours later**

The entire shinobi population remaining in Konoha was looking for Naruto Uzumaki. He had played many pranks in the past, but this was unspeakable. He had stolen the scroll containing the techniques of the past Hokages as well as many other village secrets.

Naruto could be found reading through this scroll while he waited for Mizuki-sensei. The forest around him looked like it has been torn asunder by mini-explosions; apparently he had been practicing one of the jutsu. When he first started reading he was ecstatic at all the high level jutsu that he had found in the scroll. His brain was only half working at the time.

"Wow, look at all the jutsu. This scroll must be seriously valuable. Wait, aniki said to ask questions, they may even be able to save your life. So then why would  
Mizuki-sensei want me to steal a highly valuable scroll for the sake of a test? Isn't it more likely that they would use a dummy scroll instead? This must be a set up of some sort."

"Correct you are, Naruto."Mizuki exclaimed from the trees.

"Do you know how badly I've wanted to watch you fail? Yet every time, you would just scrape through a mark on your academic tests that kept you in the academy. Now, I finally have a chance at true power and in the process I'm going to kill you; the bane of Konoha. Before you die, would you like to know why it is that you were hated, beaten when you were younger?"

"Stop right there Mizuki, that is forbidden information. At the moment your charges rest at manipulating a pre-genin into crime. Mention that secret and it will be over, I will kill you where you stand."

"Ha, like you ever could Iruka" before Mizuki could even react, Iruka had a fist in his gut. Putting some distance between the two, Iruka jumped back to his original position some 20 meters right of Naruto. Based on the speed that Iruka at, Mizuki had decided he was outmatched. His only hope was to create a distraction and escape. He still was intent on harming Naruto as much as humanly possible. It started with the giant shuriken that he threw.

Iruka looked on in horror as the shuriken sped towards Naruto who was dumbstruck by the night's events. It had too much power and weight to be stopped in a catch, the only other option was to block it with his body.

Naruto came to his senses when he saw Iruka flash in front of him, only to cough blood into his face. Mizuki started talking.

"Well, as I was saying, would you like to know why the villagers hate you?" Not even giving him time to respond, Mizuki continued his torture.

"Do you remember the lesson that we had on the Yondaime Hokage? Well it was a lie what we told you that day. The fox could never be defeated, it was too powerful. He opted to seal it instead, into a human baby. That baby I was you. You bear the scorn of the village because you are the thing that killed so many people all those years ago. Something that had been long forgotten rushed to the front of Naruto's mind a dream or nightmare, where a giant fox was rampaging inside a cage, looking right through him a though he wasn't there. Was that not a dream, was that somehow real?

"Naruto! Don't listen! You are not the fox! You are Naruto Uzumaki and I'm telling you to take that scroll back to the Hokage. I can't fight with you here, there is too much worry that you'll get hurt in the process.

Naruto fled the scene trails of hot tears escaping his eyes. While running away he had the strongest urge to return, it was something he couldn't describe. Then in a moment of clarity something rang through his head, it was Kakashi's voice

"_Those who abandon the mission are scum, those who abandon their comrades are lower than that."_

His voice rang through his head over and over like it was his conscious. In an instant his mind was made up. He had returned to the clearing to see Iruka not faring so well. After he had take the shuriken to the back he had slowed down considerably to a level Mizuki could handle.

Mizuki sneered as he saw Naruto approach again

"Drawn to a battle Naruto, perhaps that is blood lust of the fox within you."

"Say what you will about me, but you will die here for targeting me, then nearly killing my sensei." Mizuki was laughing what could the boy do, he didn't even know how to do the bunshin.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." In his early celebrations and mocking of the pre-genin he had completely forgotten about that technique. He was now surrounded by a clearing filled with what had to be at least 1000 Naruto clones. The clones made short work of Mizuki. As Naruto was turning to go to Iruka, Mizuki's body started to emit a vile chakra, while a black flame pattern crept up the side of his neck and across the rest of his body. He raised himself off the ground and launched himself not at Naruto, but at Iruka. Iruka was sent crashing through the undergrowth from a particularly vicious knock to the head. Something inside Naruto just snapped. He couldn't tell what was happening, but he could feel power flowing through his body. His nails seemed longer, almost like claws. His teeth had lengthened and the whisker marks on the side of his face were now more pronounced than ever.

Naruto launched at Mizuki, a clawed hand extended, catching him across the throat. Blood sprayed out of the both the carotid and the jugular and across the field, there was no chance of recovery. Dully Naruto thought to himself

'I killed him' the full impact of what he had just done had not hit him yet.

Then his body felt drained, he collapsed to his knees knowing noting of the real world after that.

*********************************************************************

_MINDSCAPE_

_Naruto now remembered this passage way from his last visit here. It looked different now. Last time is was more like a sewer, this time it was more like a grimy castle wall, there was less water and everything looked to be in a better state of repair._

_He followed the corridor around again to find the same cage with the piece of paper presenting the kanji for 'seal' on it. The fox was still in there, though this time it was not on a rampage, I simply looked exhausted. It spoke in a voice that while loud had a distinctly female ring to it._

"_Greetings, Naruto. My name is Rei Kagirinai..."_

"_Don't you mean Kyuubi no Youko?" Naruto interrupted._

"_That is my title, not my name. As much as I would like to do this now, I am truly exhausted; I would just like to sleep. I will bring you back here when I am fully rested." Naruto wasn't given a choice as Rei laid her head down onto her paws to sleep._

*********************************************************************

**Three days later**

Naruto was at Ichiraku's with both Kakashi and Iruka. They were talking over a bowl of ramen each.

"Naruto, I didn't get the chance to give you this the other day. Congratulations on passing your genin exam." Iruka proudly stated as he placed the hitai-ate over Naruto's forehead.

Iruka left the pair to have some alone time, which was spent mostly in a comfortable silence until Naruto felt as though he had something to tell his elder brother.

"Aniki, do you remember when you asked me all those years ago what my dream for the future was?" this had Kakashi interested, so he stopped eating and turned to face his little brother.

"Well I've decided, that my goal is gonna be to get everyone to see me as Naruto Uzumaki, not the nine-tailed demon fox." He uttered the last part in a very lower voice so that no one would hear.

"I want them to view me as a human and more than anything for them to trust me and respect me as a shinobi. The job with the ultimate amount of trust and respect around here is kage. So I'm gonna aim to be Hokage someday."

Kakashi smiled at hearing the dram, a very worthy one indeed.

'Naruto, someday you may just achieve it.' Kakashi thought to himself.

*********************************************************************

**Later that night**

_MINDSCAPE_

_He was drawn into his mindscape for the third time in his life. He wasted no time in getting to Rei's sealed area._

"_It's nice to finally meet you at least. Now that I'm full of energy I feel like actually having a conversation. The first time didn't count, I was too tired to talk."_

"_The first time? Rei, that was the second time I've seen you." Naruto corrected._

"_When else have you seen me?" she asked, wondering why she didn't remember the first encounter_

"_It was when I was little. You looked like you were being driven insane. You stared at the spot I was standing in, only you looked like you were looking right through me."_

"_I…I'm sorry you had to see me in such a state."_

"_Forgive me for doing this, but was there a reason you attacked Konoha. You don't seem like you have the temperament to do that sort of thing." _

"_Well thank you for saying so and, I didn't choose to attack Konoha, I was forced."_

"_Forced, how? What could possibly be powerful enough to control a Bijuu?" _

"_The eternal mangekyo Sharingan, only one man possess it, Madara Uchiha. He locked me into a state o nearly perpetual bloodlust. You out burst using some of my power must have finally freed me from whatever technique he used in the first place."_

"_OK, that explains why you attacked, but not why you showed up. From what I've read demons stay in another realm. What made you come here in the first place?"_

_This was a question that Rei really would rather not have answered._

"_I was net here by Kami to be…to be your companion over the ages." She responded carefully_

_My companion…over the ages. What are you talking about?" Naruto asked dumbfounded._

_There was no easy way to put this. She'd have to say it our right._

"_Naruto you are immortal. I was sent as an immortal being, so you would have at least one friend to always be there with you, when all your mortal friends have died."_

*********************************************************************

End Chapter 2

The vote tally

Hinata 5

Female Haku 12

Tayuya 6

Ayame 3

Anko 3

The start of the next chapter has an inconsistency with the first chapter. I wonder if anyone will pick it up seeing as it would take a bit of extra knowledge on their part to pick up. A special mention will go to the first person who does pick up what I'm talking about. The stuff up is an inconsistency between the prologue and the next chapter (third).

As always review only if you feel like it, though I would suggest it if you want a particular pairing.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 3**

Right not too much to say, though you should note that this is probably the last chapter I will accept votes, after this the pairing will be decided. The progress with this can be viewed at the end of the chapter.

Secondly, I got a few emails asking if I was going to be able to explain Naruto's immortality. The answer is yes, I can, though it will not come until later.

I also had a few emails regarding teams. Teams for the most part are going to e as cannon, tough with a slight quirk, all in aide of getting all characters to an acceptable level (rather than having Sakura almost useless to start with and then able to take on Akatsuki after time skip – that just doesn't make any sense to me).

Thanks once again to those who have taken the time to review and tell me where I need to improve my writing to make this a better fic.

Finally, remember, there is a stuff up in the fic. Spot it, put it in the review and you'll get a special mention. If no one gets it I'll post what it was in chapter four. Spot one that I'm not talking about and I'll cry. Just to help you, if you go past the mindscape scene then you've already gone past the muck up.

Now, on with the story.

*********************************************************************f

_MINDSCAPE_

_She had dropped the bomb. Rei had told Naruto why she came to his world in the first place. She was to be his companion for the eternity that he lived. _

_Naruto was not sure what to feel. He had just been told that he was immortal. What should he feel? Joy? Joy at being able to never die? Fear? The fear of being alone after all his friends had gone._

"_How?" Was all he could weakly ask._

"_I…I don't know. All I know is that you are immortal."_

"_You're lying." The statement aroused Rei's curiosity._

"_How did you come to that conclusion?" Confused as to what possible logic he could have used to make such a statement._

"_You said that you were to be my companion as I was immortal. If that were true, you would have only appeared on the exact day of my birth, but you were around for weeks before I was even born. Therefore, if I was not alive there would be no way for you to tell whether I was immortal."_

"_That is incorrect. I appeared on the day of your hastening." she said as though it explained everything._

"_Hastening? What do you mean? What is that?" He asked not understanding her explanation in the least._

"_The time of hastening is when the soul of the baby enters the body. This happens on the last day of the 26__th__ week of gestation. It is for this reason that it is considered a crime to kill an unborn baby beyond this point. You are effectively committing murder, and nothing can be more innocent that an unborn child. From this point on the baby is considered truly alive as it houses a soul and this is how we were able to tell that you were immortal."_

"_I see. I apologise. Well, what happens now?"_

"_Nothing. You simply live your life however way you want to. You can take risks that most would never consider, though using caution is always advised." Rei counselled._

"_Caution? What for I'm invincible?" Naruto asked._

"_You are not invincible; only immortal. As such you can still be defeated or have you so swiftly forgotten what the Yondaime did to me?"Rei responded in a very sharp manner._

"_I…understand." Naruto replied, somewhat sobered by the reality check that he was given._

"_Naruto, we have discussed everything that I needed to discuss with you. Even if you have further questions, I don't feel as though I would have answers for you. Besides, it's almost time for you wake up. We can talk later."_

_REAL WORLD_

Naruto woke up and looked around his bedroom rather groggily.

"Was that all a dream?" he asked himself.

'It was no dream Naruto. Every bit of it was as real as the bed you are sitting on.'

"Rei, how is it I'm able to hear you? I'm not by the seal anymore." Naruto asked a little shocked.

'We have always shared a mental connection, though I was never in any state to use it. At the moment it is rather weak. I'm actually shouting at you and your voice is rather faint. With time the connection will grow stronger and we will be able to hear each other quite clearly and you won't have to actually talk to for me to hear, only think of what you are saying. All this will happen in time.' She explained.

"Should I tell aniki?" he asked,

'I wouldn't, not until you at least there is a need to tell him. There isn't any good that could come by informing him.' she advised.

Kakashi was already out. Naruto had assumed that he had gone to his day job as a Hokage's guard. It was something that always made Naruto laugh; the most powerful ninja in the village hiring guards. More like he used the ANBU that guarded him as a personal messenger service.

Not bothering to check the time, Naruto left the house to head for the academy. He still tried to beat his best time every time he went there as Kakashi had suggested all those years ago. He had started out at 15 minutes to get there on his first day. It was now his goal to break the 5 minute mark, something that Kakashi could do without even thinking.

He went to his regular class room. To find that nearly the whole class had passed the exam. He cast a look around the room; there had to be at least 30 people in the room. He walked over to his gang; all eleven other members were already present.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba were all discussing the potential team compositions. Shino and Sai, another boy who had joined their group over the years, were not contributing to the discussion; opting to listen instead. Hinata, Ino and Sakura were discussing potential jounin sensei appointments. Ami and Misao another two that joined the gang after the Sasuke changed his attitude and became more amenable to approach, opted to only listen as they didn't have anything to contribute. Both came from civilian families, Sakura did as well, but there was something to be said for having you mother as head of the civilian council.

Naruto greeted them all with simple "Good morning." Before choosing to listen to snippets of both conversations not really feeling like joining in this morning, he had a lot to think about. He wasn't given long to contemplate anything as his friends broke into his thoughts, it was Hinata that had spoken first.

"Naruto-kun, is it true, you stole the forbidden scroll a few days ago? Father came home and mentioned that you were not far from being executed for such a crime."

"Well, it is true, but I only did it because Mizuki failed me on the exam."

One thought went simultaneously through all of his friends' heads

'_Bunshin no jutsu_'

"He told me that it was an extra exam and that it was a stealth test. Well I took it, Kakashi-oniichan trained me in stealth from a very young age, it should have been a piece of cake. Well it was actually, I got the scroll really easily. When I was supposed to meet Mizuki he tried to kill me and take the scroll. Iruka sensei took the hit from the fuuma shuriken. He was in no condition to fight and when I saw him injured I snapped. I knocked the stuffing out of him."

Naruto purposefully left out the part where he ran away. Mentioning that would bring questions about why he ran away; he didn't feel like telling his friends about the Kyuubi being sealed within him.

"How did you beat Mizuki? He is a chuunin." This was Shino now adding his thoughts.

"Simple; a new jutsu." Naruto answered "Here watch. _Kage bunshin no jutsu_!" Naruto exclaimed while forming a cross shaped seal with his hands. Immediately 5 Narutos popped up in a cloud of smoke. His friends were amazed when they each picked up an item in the class room just to emphasise that they could interact with their environment. Their amazement was short lived as the clones were dispelled when Iruka walked in.

"Right, I don't have much to say; simply good luck in embarking on your ninja pathway. Now for the team announcements."

This was the part that everyone was waiting for. Finding out who their teammates were and who was going to be their jounin sensei

"Team one will be Sai Komatsu, Ino Yamanaka and Ami Tanaka, jounin sensei will be Anko Mitarashi. Team two will be…"

The group decided to let their attention wander until they heard another name that they actually cared about. A short while later they had their interest piqued as the heard

"Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno will comprise team seven with Kakashi Hatake as jounin sensei. Team eight will be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame, jounin sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi. Team nine is still in circulation from last year, so team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Misao Makimachi and Chouji Akimichi, jounin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

As the jounin senseis' names were announced they entered the room either by sunshin, or by the conventional methods, like through the window or dropping from the roof. There was only one oddball that decided to use the door. They counted only 8 jounin sensei; one was missing. Naruto automatically knew what to expect when his brother was announced as his sensei.

The others got up and went off with their senseis, presumably to get to know not only their senseis but their teammates as well.

Well, we've got a bit of time to kill before our sensei shows up. What are we going to do?" Naruto asked, so they wouldn't be bored stiff for 2 hours.

"How do you know that we have any time at all?" Sakura asked, confused that he could be so sure of a person before he had met them.

"I live with Kakashi. If it's not an A ranked mission or higher or a meeting with the Hokage he shows up two hours late. So what are we going to do while we kill time?"

"May as well train; nothing too hard. Perhaps chakra control exercises, or may be light sparing." It was Sasuke to suggest the pass time.

"Light sparring sounds good to me. I hate chakra control exercise." Naruto cast his vote.

"I'm fine with whatever, so long as we pass the time in a way better than sitting around." Sakura put in her two cents worth.

They took to the academy school yard and held something of a round robin where each person fought the other two at least once and tried to fight the two others in a tag tem as well. They continued for quite a while until Kakashi shunshined into the arena and called them to sit by the swing in the yard. Kakashi sat on the swing while his three students lazed around on the floor around him, tired from their sparring.

"We, it's good to you can use your time productively even when not being instructed to do so, but why don't I get straight to the point. My name is Kakashi Hatake; I am to be your jounin sensei. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" Kakashi greeted them.

"It is only polite that we know something about you before we go spilling anything about ourselves, especially when you asked." It was Sakura that made the point. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to introduce herself, but found a better way of saying 'I don't get what you want to know'.

"Alright then, as you know, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes include…reading," he said with a slight pause in his sentence "I don't really have any dislikes, no real hobbies to mention; only training and my dream for the future, well that's rather personal." By the end of the introduction Sasuke and Sakura hadn't really learned that much, only Naruto had some inkling about their sensei, and even that wasn't a great deal.

Sakura volunteered to go next. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like reading, training and getting stronger. I dislike people who underestimate me. Hobbies include training and reading. I…don't really have a dream for the future." Sakura faltered slightly at the end.

"Don't worry, with time you may develop one, if you share with us in the future, we will try to help you along your path." Kakashi counselled. For a laid back guy he really did come out with some pearls of wisdom once in a while.

Sasuke went next to fill in the silence that followed Kakashi's minor speech.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training learning new jutsu and tomatoes." Nobody was expecting that from one of the most stoic people that they knew and proceeded to face fault. "My dislikes include arse kissers and fangirls. My dream for the future, well I have two. The first is to resurrect the Uchiha clan. The second is to work hard, so that when I meet my brother, I can look him the eye as an equal, not the one desperately trying to catch up."

Kakashi nodded. 'Admirable aspirations' Kakashi thought to himself. He had expected Sasuke to start talking about avenging the Uchiha clan, but instead he wants to live up to his brother's name, with the attitude that he currently has, anything is possible.

Next came Naruto, the one Kakashi knew the most about, yet he let him do the introduction anyway; this was as much for the teammates as it was for the jounin sensei.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes include ramen, training and my older brother," Kakashi smiled at this "my dislikes include the time it takes for ramen to cook, people who judge before they even give you a chance and my older brother's tardy ways. My dream for the future is to be Hokage."

'Right so I have a potentially powerful kunoichi that is yet undirected, a boy that wants to resurrect his lost clan and be seen equal to the greatest of his clan and one who wants to be recognised as the strongest in the village. This team has massive potential.' Kakashi made his assessment in his head, unknowingly smiling at the team make up.

"Well now the introductions are over I have a few notices. The first is that I want us all to meet at training ground seven for a survival test. Before you ask you don't need to bring any supplies other than a basic ninja side pouch, after all it is me you are going to survive from. And by the way, I wouldn't eat if I were you." Kakashi watched with a sick grin as all of his students' faces twisted in horror; particularly Naruto as he knew just how powerful Kakashi was.

"Well, if you don't have any questions then I'm going to make myself scarce." He promptly shunshined out of there before another word was said. Sasuke and Sakura were about to leave when Naruto called out to them.

"Hold on you two. I just want to tell you that you should eat something tomorrow." Naruto advised.

"He said not to eat anything." Sakura deadpanned.

"Think of that more like advice. Besides, I know how powerful he is. Fighting against him is asking for trouble, doing so on an empty stomach is suicide."

With his message passed on Naruto left the academy, Sasuke and Sakura following suit shortly after.

*********************************************************************

When arriving home Naruto found Kakashi making dinner, ramen for a change; this always put Naruto in a good mood.

Naruto approached his older brother and carefully asked his question.

"Aniki, today's introductions reminded me of something you told me many years ago. You said that when I knew my dream for the future you would tell me yours. Will you still tell me?"

Kakashi looked at his little brother and realised that he had indeed said that all those years ago.

"My dream? There isn't much to it, though you will understand it a lot better later on. My dream is to convince several people to return to the village." Kakashi confided

"Your right I don't get it. May be some day I will. May be when I meet these people." Naruto replied. He didn't want to think about it for too long, after all he had to get ready for tomorrow, surviving his older brother will be no easy task.

*********************************************************************

The next morning Kakashi was awoken by a very loud shout

"YOSH! KAKSHI WAKE UP! NARUTO TELLS ME YOU ARE PLANNING ON BEING LATE FOR YOU FIRST TRUE TEAM MEETING! THIS IS MOST UNYOUTHFUL!"

There beside Gai Maito was his young protégé and carbon copy, Rock Lee. In an equally loud voice he screamed

"GAI-SENSEI IS RIGHT! YOU ARE BEING MOST UNYOUTHFU! IT IS VERY UNYOUTHFUL TO ACT IN AN UNYOUTHFUL WAY!"

'That made no sense whatsoever' Kakashi thought groggily. Oh, who cares, it's only Naruto anyway.'

Through the directions of a certain aging Hokage, Naruto had discovered that to get Kakashi to be on time anything all you had to do was henge into Maito Gai or his student and Kakashi would be where you want him in a flash.

"Kai!" Kakashi exclaimed. The image of Gai and Lee did not disappear. "KAI!" he tried again only for the same result.

"YOSH! KAKASHI STOP WITH THIS UNYOUTHFUL BEHAVIOUR! YOU MUST GET TO YOU TEAM IMMEDIATELY!" Gai boomed at top volume.

The cogs were turning in Kakashi's head rather slowly.

'If the release technique doesn't work then it must either be a really powerful henge or genjutsu, that or…'

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼‼‼" Kakashi let out a scream of pure terror that could be heard all over Konoha.

In a certain training ground a blond laughed at the sound of the scream, while his two teammates just gave him a funny look, not getting the joke.

'The real Gai and lee in my house, in my room, while I was asleep, defiling my humble abode with speeches of 'youthfulness'.' Kakashi thought quite wildly to himself.

He bolted, got dressed as fast as he could and shunshined to training grounds; Gai had not seen his 'eternal rival' move so fast in all his time knowing him.

At the training grounds Kakashi suddenly appeared in a swirl of leaves. He gained his bearings and found Naruto. Pointing an accusing finger at the blond he practically screamed.

"You…you're evil. How could you to such a thing, to your beloved aniki of all people. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

"Well maybe you'll learn to be on time from now on." Naruto replied with a very large grin about his face.

"You will get yours don't you worry Naruto." Kakashi threatened almost maniacally.

"Well now that we are all here I have a test, this is to see if you will remain genin, or whether you will attend the academy for an entire year more before becoming genin. The test is simple to pass; all you have to do is obtain one of the bells from my waist." To make them realise exactly what bells he was talking about; he jingled them to draw their attention to the tiny bells attached to a sting.

"You have until lunch time to acquire them. Begin." Upon his command they all disappeared into the dense woodland nearby.

"Well they can all hide quite well. Naruto should have no problem, but the other two surprised me." Kakashi thought out aloud.

Elsewhere, Naruto was sitting with Sasuke and Sakura.

"We have to take him as a trio; it's the only way we are going to get those bells of his waist." He surmised.

"What about the one who will go back when we get the bells?" Sakura asked, worried about having to go through the academy again.

Sasuke spoke up this time .

"Think about what he said. Never once did he address us individually. He only said that to pass we had to obtain one of the bells on his waist. It's like a guarding mission, just in reverse. 3 people working together to protect a client. One person might take on any assailants while the other two are hanging back to take any that get through the initial blockade. Which one is the one completing the mission objective? All of them, even though they have different roles. Well, at least that's how I hope that he is seeing it."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Well, I have a plan."

*********************************************************************

It was hours later. Only 30 minutes before the end of the test and the trio had yet to make a move, all of a sudden Kakashi sensed some movement and saw Naruto clones en masse.

'Well this is my chance to get even.' Kakashi thought to himself as he watched the mass of orange approach. He tore into the mass dispelling clones left right and front. As he was fighting the real Naruto snuck up behind him and latched on, holding Kakashi in place.

"Like you always said sensei, never let your opponent get behind you." Naruto advised thinking about all the advice Kakashi had ever given him.

"You know what? Your absolutely right Naruto, but you would do well to listen to your own advice" Kakashi replied before poofing out of existence.

The real Kakashi was behind Naruto blurring through a set of hands seals ending in the tora. Instead of announcing a katon jutsu as Sasuke and Sakura expected he proceeded to jam his fingers up Naruto's backside, sending him flying. While wincing in pain for their blond teammate's misfortune a genjutsu was laid by Sakura.

It simply showed Sasuke attempting to engage Kakashi in a taijutsu match. They figured it would be only moments before Kakashi worked out that it was a genjutsu. It was in this time that Sasuke would rush out as well, in attempt to steal the bells while his sensei was still caught in the jutsu. A rather simple plan, then again some of the simplest plans often worked the best. The only hitch was the timing necessary on both Sakura and Sasuke's part. If Sakura laid the genjutsu too early it would be noticed and swiftly dispelled. Too late and Sasuke would run out and gain the full attention of their sensei, thus wasting Naruto's noble sacrifice.

Should Sasuke run out before the genjutsu was placed then he would have to deal with a very powerful ninja with his full concentration on him, too late and he would miss the narrow window of opportunity that Sakura had given him.

Both parts were timed perfectly; the only problem was that he bells were so small that there was nothing to grab onto while he was fighting a genjutsu. Sasuke made his decision; he grabbed not only the bells but a handful of Kakashi's ANBU style pants and indiscriminately ripping the both of them away. Without part of his waist band holding up his pants the rest of his kit fell to the ground revealing floral design boxers. Sakura turned red; Sasuke was dumbstruck, though nobody could work out if it was because of his sensei's choice in underwear or simply because he was faced with a pants-off Kakashi. Naruto for his part was trying to laugh.

"Well that's what you get for sticking your fingers up my arse." He taunted his older brother.

A second later the time went off, signalling midday had arrived and that the test was officially over. Kakashi gathered his students for some feedback.

"Very good all of you, you all pass. And Sasuke, very good reasoning on why I should let you pass."

All three looked utterly perplexed. Nobody had spoken yet.

"What? You think that I didn't know where you were from the start? You guys may be talented for genin, but there is a reason I am a jounin.

Sakura was the first to catch on.

"Wait, if you knew what we were going to do you could have stopped it and we would have never got the bells."

"It was never about the bells Sakura." Kakashi informed. "That was merely a test to see if you could work as a team. Your teammates are your friends and your allies; you are their life line, as they are yours. To quote a friend '_Those who abandon the mission are scum. Those who abandon their comrades are lower than that.' _This is something that I take very seriously. No matter what, I won't ever abandon you. Now that we have done our exam we have to report into the Hokage. He has an announcement regarding all teams."

Just as they were walking away Naruto stopped to ponder something.

"Kakashi-sensei, you remember how you promised to teach me the super awesome, ultra flashy jutsu? Well, there is no such thing is there?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto wondering what the hell he was on about before realising,

'He means that bogus jutsu name I made up to calm him down?'

Kakashi's face blew up trying to contain his laughter. He failed spectacularly. He was on all fours banging the ground in laughter. After a short explanation to Sasuke and Sakura they too were rolling around on the floor, holding their sides.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled at them "I was like four years old. How was I to know?" Seeing that he wasn't going to get through to them he walked off in a huff.

*********************************************************************

A short while later we find not only team 7 but teams one, eight and ten at the Hokage's office waiting for the announcement about their teams. Seeing that the last of the teams had arrived Sarutobi began.

"First of all, congratulations on passing your jounin instructors' exams and becoming official genin of Konoha. Now the announcement that will affect you all is as follows. The teams of 1, 7, 8, ad 10 are here by disbanded until further notice."

There was an outcry from all in the room. They were comfortable with their teams and wanted nothing changed.

Sarutobi held up a wizened hand to stem the complaints. Despite the situation all noise stopped, he was the kage for a reason.

"In a manner of speaking this matter was taken out of my hands. The civilian council as well as the village elders requested, or more precisely, demanded special training be given to a member of your number."

"Me." Sasuke voiced. It wasn't a question it was a statement. He knew how so many worshipped him and how he hated it. It was one of the things that Itachi had hated the most. Worship for belonging to the Uchiha clan, as if there was no greater honour.

As such instead of giving only one of your member special training I have removed the teams to provide all of you with special training. Some will receive instruction in areas where others will not."

Naruto raised his voice this time,

"In other words you're not gonna waste time teaching us pointless things if we will never use it, or simply can't. Like me with genjutsu."

"That aside, there are many reasons for doing this. The first is to satisfy the demands of the council. If it were only the civilian council I could have ignored the request, but seeing as the recommendation comes from all three of the village's elders I don't have that luxury. The second reason for doing this is that you all maintain the bond that you have developed since your academy days. The teams I put you on may not necessarily be your permanent ones. You were just placed with people that I thought you would have the hardest time working with." Sarutobi eyed every one before realising that they were silent and waiting for him to continue.

"Well then, onto what you will be learning and from whom. You will all learn to develop the three academy basics of ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu. Only Naruto will be exempt from genjutsu because it is as he already said, he will never be able to use it. Ninjutsu will be taken by Kakashi Hatake, genjutsu will be taken by Kurenai Yuuhi and taijutsu will be run in conjunction with Maito Gai's genin cell. This prevents over specialisation and you will be able to deal with any kind of situation out in the field in the future."

Someone decided to interrupt the Hokage, wondering about the team placements, an interruption that he was glad for as he was quickly growing tired of talking for so long.

"Hokage-sama, will there be any changes to the teams?" Anko asked, wondering about the placement of Ino on her team instead of the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho team.

"Actually yes, Ino and Misao will be swapping teams. There were reasons that I had them on those teams in the first place, but they blew away any doubts I had by passing their genin exam." A simple nod from Anko told her leader that she understood and accepted the change in her team composition, when teams were actually active.

"This is only the basic training everybody will receive. Hinata, Shino and Kiba will receive training from Konoha's tracking unit. Misao Makimachi, Ami Tanaka and Sai Komatsu seem to all have an attraction towards weapons usage so they will receive extra training in this area from Anko Mitarashi. The Ino-Shika-Cho team will receive training from their fathers in team tactics and in information gathering."

Everyone looked excited by the prospect of learning such interesting thing from the given senseis. Sakura and Naruto looked a little disheartened at not having a specialty area in which to train in. Sarutobi noticed the look and would address it privately. He turned to look at Sasuke and gave him a choice.

"You are supposed to take all the areas with your classmates, but I'm going to let you pick what you will and will not do."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I will take all fields, except for the training with the Ino-Shika-Cho team, that training is specifically set up for them. My brother was never one weak in one area. If I truly want to compare to him, then I must have a strong basis in all areas. "

"Very well then. Now that you all understand what you will be doing, this is how I will work the first three days of each week will be dedicated to one of the three base disciplines; taijutsu, genjutsu or ninjutsu. The next day will be training for the Ino-Shika-Cho team and weapons training with Anko Mitarashi. The day after will be the tracking training for team 8. If you feel you want to look into another area of expertise, simply to build your knowledge then all you have to do is meet at the training ground in the morning with the specialty team."

Sarutobi pause to collect his thoughts.

"The fifth day will comprise of missions where you will randomly be assigned into groups to foster teamwork amongst all of you. The sixth day will be charka exercises. This will build control as well as your reserves. I should mention that all through the week you will be doing to most gruelling work imaginable to build up your physical stamina. While Maito Gai cannot be instructing the whole time as he has his own genin team to tend to, he has been kind enough to provide us with a list of exercises that he has suggested to train your bodies to their peak. Lastly the seventh day is a day of rest, there will be no training as it is important to allow your bodies time to adjust and grow with your training regimen. If there are no questions everybody except for Naruto and Sakura are dismissed."

Everybody milled out of the office except for three; Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi opted to stay back as both of his students were being spoken to. The Hokage first turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, I was wondering if you would be interested in becoming a medical ninja. You certainly seem to have the chakra control and a head that could easily get around the inner workings of the human body."

"Well, I don't have a specialised area yet and if you think that it would be a good idea, then I'm more than happy to give it a try, Hokage-sama."

"Very well then report to the hospital tomorrow. By then I will have arranged for a sensei for you to learn from." Sensing the finality in his tone Sakura left, leaving only Naruto, Kakashi and the Hokage in the room.

"Well Naruto, it seems without genjutsu and a speciality you have some areas to cover. That is why I have arranged for you to learn a sword style with Gekko Hayate. He is a recently retired ANBU that I have arranged to teach you sword skills. And the final area to cover requires a test."

Reaching into his desk he drew out a small piece of paper.

"Naruto, this is chakra paper. It responds to your chakra element."

Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face he realised that a better explanation was in order.

"Chakra has an elemental affinity, sometimes multiple affinities. These elements are water, fire, wind, lightening and earth. When you channel chakra into this paper it will respond accordingly. Water and it will dampen, fire and it will burn, wind will cause it to split, it will crumple if it is lightening and it will crumble to dust if earth.

Curious, Naruto instantly grabbed the paper and channelled some chakra into it. The paper split very evenly before starting to burn. The split happened so forcefully it was ridiculous, but that paled in comparison to the burning. It started out as a smoulder before the paper burst into a white flame, causing Sarutobi and Kakashi to go wide-eyed.

"Well it seems that you have a very high affinity for both wind and fire jutsu. It just so happens that Asuma is a wind user and I am a fire element. We will teach you jutsu from the corresponding areas."

Now Naruto had his two areas to occupy himself while everybody did their own thing, he was more than happy. In fact he was ecstatic about learning from the Hokage himself. As Kakashi and Naruto left using the door Sarutobi looked at Naruto's retreating back and thought to himself.

'I know your letter told me that Naruto needed his letter by the time he was a genin, but I honestly don't think that he is ready for that. At least I'm providing him some decent training instead of your clan's techniques. Minato, Kushina; please forgive me. Naruto, I hope you will understand and not hate me for too long.'

*********************************************************************

And so it was that the group trained and trained. True to his word the genin nearly collapsed every day after their work outs. The work from Gai was ridiculous, added to that any one that trained with Anko nearly lost a limb from her training methods which were more easily likened to torture methods.

If anyone thought that Kakashi was going to be lazy in training them in ninjutsu they were in for a rude awakening. Those that thought Kurenai Yuuhi would take it easy on them due to her gentle and kind nature were also shocked at how much of a slave driver she could be. From either area of specialty many nearly ended up on the verge of chakra exhaustion. Naruto was the only one who could move after Kakashi's sessions.

Nobody survived Gai's taijutsu training methods. Even Naruto with his legendary stamina collapsed after such an intense workout. To their defence there was only one person on Gai's team that could handle that as well; Rock Lee.

Sakura applied herself very heavily to her studies in medical ninjutsu. It was staggering just how much she could remember after one session with her sensei in the area, Megumi Takani. In less than a week she had memorised what situation called for which jutsu and had learned the two most basic jutsu from Megumi. The first was _shosen jutsu_, used for healing cuts, bruises and most forms of injury. The second was _dokumeki no jutsu_, used for extracting poisons. As Sarutobi had said, she had excellent chakra control which aided in learning the jutsu.

Naruto was worked to the bone be Gekko Hayate, Asuma and his father, the Hokage. Gekko did not teach Naruto anything specific, only the correct way to swing a sword. It was one thing to swing a sword, but if the body parts were moved in the correct order then the seeing could be all the more devastating (1). Asuma and the Hokage left him near chakra depletion after every training session, which said quite a lot considering his near infinite supply of chakra. So far he had learned _endan_, _hosenka no jutsu_ and was on his way to learning _ryuka no jutsu_. He had mastered the _daitoppa_, though was struggling with actually forming a blade of wind for the _kaze no yaiba_.

The two most enjoyable times that the group had together were performing missions to build their teamwork and the chakra exercises. When the group first attempted the tree walking it drove Naruto nuts that Hinata and Sakura could walk three quarters of the tree on the first try and by the second managed to do the whole thing. Shino and Sai had the best luck out of the boys, though only getting half way up. Kiba and Sasuke practically destroyed their trees by applying too much chakra, while Misao landed straight on her backside after using too little.

The missions were for the most part enjoyable. The mission enjoyed the most was walking the Inuzuka dogs, while the most hated was catching Tora, a cat belonging to the fire Daimyo's wife.

It was Kiba's dearest wish to present that cat on a stick to Sasuke, who would then proceed to torch it with any one of his katon jutsu. He would then have loved to have fed the 'delicacy' to the dogs in the Inuzuka kennel.

*********************************************************************

It was early morning and the rookie twelve was in the Hokage's office collecting mission assignments.

"Well, I have a pleasant surprise for you all. You all have enough D rank missions under your belt to participate in a C rank. The missions are as follows team one will be heading to a small village to protect livestock from some bandits, team eight will be carrying a document from Konoha to Taki no Kuni and team ten will be guiding a merchant from Kusa no Kuni to Konoha for so he can sell is wares."

Each team's sensei picked up the mission scroll before telling their team to meet at a gate in a short while prepared for the mission. Team seven remained in the office as they were yet to receive their mission.

"Thank you for waiting patiently while the other teams got their assignments." His words came not a moment too soon as Naruto had been about to angrily ask about their C rank mission.

"Your mission requires an introduction." He stated to the team before yelling to someone out of the room "Send Tazuna-san in."

A short man with grey hair walked in. Even from the distance they were at it was still possible to smell the stench of alcohol about his as he entered the room.

"What's the idea? Giving me a girl to guard me back to my home?" Before he had even blinked all three genin were around him with a kunai pointed at a different vital point. Sasuke spoke first.

"We work as one. An insult to our teammate is the same as insulting us. We will not tolerate such a thing." He stated with a smirk.

"Besides, you've just seen our skills first hand." Sakura piped up "Rest assured that Kakashi-sensei is a jounin and can handle anything we cannot." She finished, lowering her weapon; her teammates following suit.

Kakashi was proud, though you couldn't see it through the face mask.

"Alright meet at the village's main gates in an hour. Pack only the essentials far a mission. In other words some food, any weapons and some camping supplies."

*********************************************************************

**Three hours later**

After Kakashi had managed to avoid Naruto for the two hours that he was late the group had finally set off for Nami no Kuni. The trip was interspersed by little bits of chitchat, some of which focussing on Tazuna's home village.

"So Tazuna, what is Nami no Kuni like?" Sakura was the one who had asked.

"It's a peaceful little village. Were mainly based on fishing and there isn't any real threat of shinobi as we aren't a ninja village."

A couple of hours through the mission four people noticed a genjutsu in the form of a puddle on the ground. Well three people noticed. Naruto, still not quite adept at actually detecting minor fluctuations of chakra had his own process.

'It hasn't rained in days, it's been pretty bright and the land is flat so that water isn't run off from somewhere. This is a trap. Thank Kami aniki taught me to always question my surroundings.'

No sooner than Naruto had come to his conclusion, two figures emerged from the puddles and started attacking. They both had Kirigakure hitai-ates on, though they were slashed, indicating that they were nuke-nin. They were dressed in black cloaks with a clawed gauntlet on opposing hands and a chain linking their other two hands. Their first moved was to remove Kakashi. They did so almost effortlessly, wrapping him up in the chain before shredding him to pieces with a sharp tug at each end of the chain. Not even stopping after killing Kakashi, they turned their attention to Tazuna. The three genins didn't even get time to contemplate their sensei's death; they waited for their foes to come to them. Sakura stayed put and guarded Tazuna while Sasuke and Naruto were the ones to meet the enemy head on. Sasuke simply got inside the wild slashes and strikes that one of the pair was dishing out, simply choosing to thrust the butt of his kunai into his throat, preventing him from breathing and stopping him in his tracks. In these vital few seconds Sasuke knocked him out.

Naruto parried the gauntlet of his opponent into a tree. With the chain now at full stretch and the mostly free opponent unconscious while his counterpart was struggling to free himself from the tree the danger had now passed.

Kakashi reappeared looking as calm as ever.

"You're alive?" Tazuna was shocked. He had seen him get torn to shreds with his own eyes.

"Of course he is." Sakura admonished. "If we genin could notice such an obvious trap, what do you think the odds on a jounin _not_ noticing are. Slim to none is my guess."

"Great work everybody. Naruto, you got careless, you have a cut in your hand. Their weapons have poison on them."

"I can deal with that. Megumi-sensei taught me the _dokumeki no jutsu _already." Sakura offered.

"Then please do so. I first have to question these two chuunin, then depending on what they say I may have a few questions for you Tazuna-san, that unless you want to save me the trouble and tell me why they were after you in the first place."

"I…fine." Tazuna reluctantly agreed. "I'm a bridge builder. I'm currently in the middle of a project that will link Nami no Kuni to the mainland. Well there is a business man that doesn't like the idea. His name is Gato."

"The shipping magnate? Kakashi asked, slightly intrigued.

"The same. Well he controls the waters around Nami; he who controls the water controls everything. So I'm trying to build this bridge so we will be free of his terror."

"You do realise that you have knowingly broken our contract. Encountering a shinobi automatically bumps this up to a B rank mission. Should we encounter a jounin, then the mission status goes up to A rank. We are well within our rights to refuse the mission and turn back."

Tazuna paled at the news.

"But if you do, we will never be free of Gato's reign. Please reconsider."

"I'll leave the decision to my students." Kakashi replied.

The three genin all looked at each other. Naruto then spoke for them.

"I don't know about legalities all that much, but Kakashi sensei did say '_those who abandon the mission are_ scum, _those who abandon those in need are lower than that'. _If we turn back we are both abandoning the mission and someone in need. I say we continue the mission."

"Agreed." Was all that was necessary from both Sasuke and Sakura.

"While those weren't my exact words, you summed it up pretty well. It looks like we are continuing." Kakashi summed up his group interaction and decided on the course of action to be taken.

Tazuna let out a rather audible sigh of relief.

*********************************************************************

For hours the troupe walked, not really saying much. That was until Naruto decided to throw a kunai into a thicket of bushes. They went over to check what had tripped his senses. Upon seeing a small white rabbit Sakura scolded him.

"Naruto, what are you trying to do? Scare me to death. Everyone is already on edge from the attack and now you've hurt the poor thing." Using _shosen jutsu_ she healed the nick in the rabbit's ear before setting it free.

Kakashi was thinking on a far different wavelength.

'That's a snow rabbit. They only have white fur in the winter when there is low sun. It's now summer, so its fur should be brown. This rabbit was raised indoors, possibly for a _kawarimi jutsu._'

Then he heard something as though it was flying through the air coming towards them.

"GET DOWN!" was all he had time to roar at the other four. The three genin quickly ducked while Kakashi pulled Tazuna out of harm's way.

Not a moment later a zanbatou flew over head. Any one that had been too late in ducking would have been decapitated. The giant sword embedded itself into a nearby tree and a man appeared on the handle. He was wearing shinobi pants and sandals, but no upper body coverings. Like Kakashi he also had a face mask on, his consisting of thin strips of material.

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi said aloud, though to no one in particular.

"I'm honoured you know me, Copy Nin Kakashi" Zabuza coolly replied.

The three genin tensed ready for a fight.

"No, you three, guard Tazuna. This one is in league far above the others." He instructed his genin. "I'm going to need this." He continued, lifting up his headband and revealing his sharingan eye.

'The sharingan? How did he get that? No Uchiha I can ever remember would ever willingly part with it. It was a matter of pride for them that the sharingan stay within the Uchiha clan' Sasuke was genuinely shocked. He had never expected his sensei's covered eye socket to contain a sharingan eye.

"Kakashi I've been hired to kill that man. Care to step aside?" Zabuza tested his luck, knowing that Kakashi was hired to protect Tazuna.

"Sorry, no deal." Kakashi firmly answered, before entering a defensive stance.

"Didn't think so, though I thought I would at least show some courtesy to another professional." The words were barely out of his mouth before he appeared in the middle of the defence formation Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had set up. Before he could do any damage he was quickly taken out by Kakashi with a kunai to his side. Where blood was leaking out they only saw water.

"Mizu bunshin" Kakashi mused out loud. A moment later Kakashi was cut cleanly in two, only to burst into water as Zabuza had done.

Zabuza then found himself with a kunai to his neck

"I win Zabuza."

"Not quite Kakashi." Zabuza said as he swang his zanbatou, kubikiri houcho, to Kakashi's neck. Realising the trouble he was in, Kakashi changed his position, ensuring that he slashed the mizu bunshin's neck to kill it while he brought his kunai into a position to block the slash. The swing had too much power in it and Kakashi was knocked out off balance; it was all the opening that Zabuza needed to kick him onto the surface of a nearby body of water.

Zabuza smirked

'Just where I want you." He thought to himself.

Before Kakashi had regained his senses he had appeared next to him.

"_Suiro no jutsu" _Zabuza announced his jutsu and almost immediately Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water.

"That sphere is stronger than steel Kakashi, there is no chance of escape, as your last sight, I will kill off your genin along with the old man in front of you before I kill you."

A mizu bunshin formed from one of the previously destroyed ones. Naruto created a mass of _kage bunshins_ and sent them all to attack the mizu bunshin. They dog piled the Zabuza bunshin before all being sent flying. The clone dispersed a second later; it appeared that at least one of the clones had managed to stab Zabuza with a kunai before being sent flying.

"What are you doing? You can't beat him. Just run. Get out of here." Kakashi tried to save his students from the fate he was to have in only a short while.

"Kakashi-sensei, we lost that option when you got captured." Sasuke replied.

"After all it was you that said _'those who abandon their teammates are lower than trash'"_ Sakura finished for him, using Kakashi's own words against him.

Sasuke threw a fuuma shuriken at Zabuza. He caught it in his hand, only to jump over the second shuriken hidden in the shadows. The second shuriken poofed into a Naruto bunshin and threw a kunai at Zabuza. Zabuza used the shuriken in his hand to deflect the incoming kunai.

"Dammit." Sasuke growled in frustration. "I was sure that would work."

The teamwork displayed by Naruto and Sasuke was unreal, but in the face of such a powerful ninja it was pointless. Naruto came up with an idea.

"Our attacks have been to focussed." Sasuke gave him sidelong glance to tell him that he was listening.

"Our attacks were direct. If we create an attack that is too wide a range for him to dodge then he has no choice but to let Kakashi sensei free. I'm gonna need you to create the most powerful fireball you can." He explained, still addressing Sasuke. Sasuke didn't question, but did as he was asked.

"_Katon: endan." _A fireballeight feet in diameter blossomed from Sasuke's mouth. While in midflight there was a sudden cry from Naruto.

"_Fuuton: daitoppa."_ The fireball went from eight feet to twenty. Zabuza paled; he had one hand tied up so he could not perform the _suijinheki _and it was far too large to somehow dodge from his stationary position. The other hand was providing a protective layer of water around Kakashi; it was a lose lose situation. He released the jutsu and both ninja leaped in different directions at the last second to escape the rapidly approaching blaze.

Both men settled on the water and started to go through a long set of hand seals, the amazing thing was that they were doing the exact same hand seals at the exact same time.

"Stop copying me…" Zabuza started

"…you irritating monkey." Kakashi finished for him.

They hollered the jutsu name at the same time.

"_Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu_" the gigantic dragons that appeared as a result of the jutsu fought for dominance, neither winning, sending water in all directions when they collapsed. Seeing that neither jutsu had succeeded both began doing hand seals once more, both doing the exact same hand seals.

"How are you copying my every move? Can you…"

"…see into the future? Yes I can. Zabuza, your future is death." Kakashi finished the jutsu a fraction of a second before Zabuza.

"_Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu." _A giant vortex appeared and slammed Zabuza against the tree that his sword had originally lodged in. When the water had receded Kakashi walked over calmly and attempted to finish the job.

A senbon flashed through the air and hit Zabuza in the neck, stilling all movement. Kakashi looked over for the source and saw a young oi-nin. Walking over to the body he checked for vital signs, with none found he walked away and the oi-nin approached the body.

"Thank you for stopping him. I have been tracking this one for quite some time."

Understanding that the role of an oi-nin was to eliminate nuke-nin, the three genin remained silent through the exchange. By the end the oi-nin had shunshined away with the body, presumably in order to dispose of the body.

Kakashi turned to the group and suggested that they move towards Tazuna's house. Midsentence he collapsed due to chakra exhaustion. He had used his sharingan for quite awhile in conjunction with two jutsu that require a considerable amount of chakra. The duty of carrying Kakashi home was rotated between all three genin as they made their way back to Tazuna's home in Nami.

*********************************************************************

**End Chapter 3**

The pairing Tally

Hinata 9

Female Haku 23

Tayuya 8

Ayame 3

Anko 7

**Translations**

Endan - Fireball

Kage bunshin no jutsu – shadow clone technique

Kaze no yaiba – wind blade

Suijinheki – water encampment wall

Ryuka no jutsu – dragon fire jutsu

Mizu bunshin – water clone

Bunshin – clone

Daibakufu no jutsu – great vortex technique

Shunshin - body flicker technique

Shosen jutsu – mystic palm

Dokumeki no jutsu – poison extraction technique

Hosenka no jutsu – phoenix flower technique

Daitoppa – great break through

Fuuton – wind release

Katon – fire release

Suiton – water release

As a note, I got a few emails telling me that Neji, Tenten and Lee were not part of the rookie graduating class. I was very much aware of this, but you should be able to see from this chapter where I was coming from when I quoted the number 12 in the previous chapter.

Remember, only review if you actually feel like it or to vote for pairings, no obligations.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Eternal Chimera**

Right my first note is to thank all those that review and all those that voted.

My second note is to say there is a reason that I'm pairing a mortal with an immortal. If you can't guess what it is, then just wait for the chapter that tells you. It won't before a while. Secondly I can guarantee that there is a reason that Naruto is immortal. How he became immortal it will be revealed not this chapter but the chapter after.

I'm not going to just go handing out all the major plot points at the start of the story or before due time. If I did there would be no point in you reading the fic to see where I take the story.

Next note: many said that the previous chapter was boring. You know what? I agree, I really do; but hear me out. It was necessary to get them to wave and rather than just skip the thing I wrote it out. If I had gone any further the next place that I would have stopped would have been roughly 7000 words later. I really didn't want to write a 15, 000 word chapter.

Lastly the inconsistency was regarding Kyuubi's appearance. I said she appeared at hastening. This is an actual belief (sorry, can't remember the religion) and as such, you could not terminate a pregnancy after this point. I said that Kyuubi had been roaming around for about 15 weeks at her sealing. Hastening is 14 weeks before birth (full term is 40 weeks), added to that Naruto was premature the actual figure should have been like 10-12 weeks.

And just quickly the other pairing is Haku.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**The story**

*********************************************************************

Team seven and Tazuna had arrived at Tazuna's house only a few short hours ago. There they had met his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari. They had arrived late at night so they were all tired, skipping an evening meal all five went to bed only to.

The following morning everybody was awake. Kakashi was now moving around with the aid of crutches that Tazuna had somehow procured. There was a very tense silence between the ninja. Sakura was the first to breach the silence.

"Kakashi-sensei, the other day, with the oi-nin, something seemed off." Kakashi gave her a very serious look. It said that he had his own suspicions, but he wanted to hear hers first. "In training with both Megumi-sensei and Anko sensei they both said that it was really hard to kill with a senbon, though I do know we use them in some medical treatments."

Kakashi looked at them all.

"You have all been taught the role of an oi-nin. Can any of you remember anything about the disposal method?"

All three looked completely out at sea so Kakashi gave them some extra information.

"Not how they do it, but where." Realisation first dawned on Sasuke.

"…they dispose of the body wherever it lands, circumstances permitting. That oi-nin took the body away. We don't know what became of it."

"Correct, it is possible to place a person in a near death state with senbon needles, but only if the aim is good enough. Also the oi-nin is supposed to take only the head back to the village and destroy the rest. The one we saw did not; it is possible that it was in league with Zabuza."

Naruto connected the rest of the dots and simply said it out loud what everyone had alluded to

"So, Zabuza is still alive."

Tazuna had only walked in on the back half of the conversation and Naruto's summation made him pale in fear. There was still a man out there who wanted his head and was powerful enough to take down his guards.

"So what are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

"We train. We will most likely be surrounded by water when we face him again. I'm going to teach you a few water techniques to take advantage of it. _Mizu bunshin _and_ suijinheki_ would be most useful. This is more about getting you to survive this long enough for me to get there, rather than actually take him on. If there is time we can try to get to _teppodama._ I doubt we will get time though. From what I understand we have about a week before he will recover; I just hope I'm recovered by then as well.

*********************************************************************

A short while later we find team even out by a lake. Kakashi had taken them there to learn the suggested jutsu.

"Right these are the hand signs for making a _mizu bunshin_. It's very much like making a normal bunshin, though you must focus on bringing a replica of yourself out of the surrounding water." Kakashi demonstrated the hand signs for the three.

"Naruto, you will not be learning this. With your _kage bunshin_ it's pointless to learn another jutsu so similar right now. You are going to focus on learning the_ suijinheki. _He like he did for Sasuke and Sakura he demonstrated the hand seals before overseeing their progress.

By the end of the day all three had made some progress. Sasuke could only partly perform the jutsu, most of her attempts failed before they could even take a hit, meaning that she was either putting in too much charka, resulting in the clone exploding, or too little meaning it collapsed almost instantly. Sasuke was simply having problems getting his image to form out the surrounding water.

Naruto was having the greatest difficulty out of the three, something that Kakashi attributed to his extreme fire affinity. He simply could not get the water to move in the way that was necessary in order to perform a protective shield against whatever attack was coming his way.

Kakashi watched his student train till late in the afternoon when he decided that it was enough for one day. He called them in and told them it was time to go home to rest and relax and try to perfect the techniques the next day.

*********************************************************************

At the dinner table there was hardly any conversation. The three genin were all too tired to talk so they simply ate. Inari was eating with the group for once and it was him that broke the silence.

"Why do you all try so hard?" he asked the group he had watched them through the day's training.

"Because we have a mission to complete. Because if we die here we can't fulfil any of our dreams."

"_If _you will die here? All of you are going to die!" he proclaimed. "You don't know what it's like living here and yet you think that you're gonna change everything. You don't know how hard life is here…"

Naruto cut in on his rant.

"We may not live here, but we know better than anyone else what a hard life can be. We are ninja, we are soldiers. We could die on a mission. We could die on this mission, trying to help people that don't even seem to want to help themselves. Tell me that when you are our age and you get a job, just how often it is that you could be facing death, then tell me how hard your life really is."

His hands were clenched in fists of rage. He couldn't stand it anymore; he got up and left leaving everyone at the table and his dinner unfinished.

He went to the nearby forest to blow off steam. It wasn't that he wanted to train; he just wanted to lay into something. He went to a fairly densely wooded area and just started pummelling into the nearest tree. He was punching a divot into the tree's trunk. It wasn't good enough. He started to kick it, leaving large welts in the side. It still wasn't enough he stepped back and screamed out.

"_Kaze no yaiba."_ The tree was cleanly sliced in half. When he was finished he was left panting, not from the effort, but trying to reign in his raging emotions.

"Are you all right?" a voice rang through the trees. When Naruto looked around he was greeted with the sight of what he would later describe as one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

She was 5'1 with long black hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a pink kimono with small purple designs all over it. While the kimono wasn't very form fitting, you could still see that she took care of her body and at least stayed trim. The thing that most took his attention was her face. It was the perfect shape and nothing seemed out of proportion.

She smiled at him and he quickly realised that he was staring at her; he quickly averted his gaze and suddenly found great interest in the ground between them.

"Are you alright?" the girl repeated.

"I'm fine, just blowing off some steam."

"My name is Haku."

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto responded, realising that she was waiting for him to tell her his name.

The girl smiled warmly at him. If Naruto had realised who he was talking to he may not have been so relaxed. She recognised him as one of Kakashi's students immediately. The blond hair and whisker marks were a dead giveaway.

"So, what are you doing all the way out here?" Naruto put the question back to her.

"Collecting medicinal herbs. My friend is sick."

"Would you like some help?" Naruto offered after a short pause.

"Yes, that would be appreciated."

Haku and Naruto collected the herbs she was looking for after she showed him a basket half full of what she was looking for.

Midway through their searching Haku broke the silence once again.

"Naruto, you're a ninja, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Your head band tells me so. Well I was wondering…why do you fight?"

"Because if I don't then I will be killed. It's kill or be killed."

"You misunderstand. Do you fight for power? Or is it money? Is it because the life of a ninja is fun? Or do you fight to protect friends and other loved ones?"

Naruto was quiet for quite a while as he thought through his answer. For what reason did he fight? His dream was to become Hokage. The Hokage was the one responsible for looking after and protecting all of the people in his village. He had his answer.

"I fight to protect. Protect my friends, my older brother and one day, maybe a family." He finally responded.

"That is a good reason to fight. Those that have someone to protect will one day find true strength." She said no more, Naruto pondered her message in his head.

She had finished picking herbs.

"Thank you for your help. I will be leaving now."

"Wait. Could we…would you like to meet here tomorrow? Just to talk. Same place same time?"

Haku looked at him for a second, into his eyes, it was the first time that she actually noticed how beautifully blue they were. They seemed almost as if they were pleading her to say yes. She hesitated before answering.

"Yes. I will see you here tomorrow." She replied before turning and disappearing into the night. Naruto also turned and went back to the house, ready for another of day of training.

On her way back to the base Haku was thinking to herself about what kind of a mess she had gotten herself into. She had met a member of the enemy and could have easily taken him out, yet she didn't. If Zabuza had found out about that then she would have to deal with the fall out involved from that. Worse still, she had arranged to meet the boy again. She knew it was dangerous and perhaps stupid, getting friendly with someone that she may end up fighting, but she couldn't bring herself to harm him.

*********************************************************************

That night Gato and two of his personal guards, Zori and Waraji, payed Zabuza and Haku a visit.

"Zabuza, I'm paying you to kill an old man. It should not be that difficult."

"He is being guarded by Kakashi Hatake, one of Konoha's elite ninja."

"I don't care. Get rid of him or…" Gato made to reach for Zabuza to emphasise the point he was about to make when Haku grabbed his hand

"You are unworthy of even touching Zabuza-sama" Haku said with an icy voice while crushing the bones in Gato's hand.

Gato's guards went to draw their swords but before they had them halfway unsheathed Haku was already by their sides with a senbon poised to strike, both aimed at the kidney. Getting the message, the three men left.

"You didn't have to do that you know. I could have handled that myself."

"True, but you need to rest particularly after being put in a near death state." Haku replied. Zabuza left it at that and tried to get some sleep.

*********************************************************************

The next day seemed like a blur to Naruto. He, Sakura and Sasuke went and practiced the techniques show to them by Kakashi. They practiced on their own as Kakashi was given time to rest from his battle with Zabuza.

While they were training Sasuke and Sakura had filled in Naruto about the Inari and his history with a man named Kaiza. It turned out that the man had saved Inari from drowning and ever since Inari had worshipped Kaiza as his hero, eventually the pair becoming as close as father and son.

Kaiza was hailed as a hero all over wave when he saved the village from being flooded by braving terrible currents in order to close a dam gate that had burst open. When Gato appeared Kaiza confronted about his business dealings. For his boldness and public display of opposing Gato, he cut Kaiza's arms off in a public execution. Since then Inari had never been the same.

The finished at the same time they had the day before, going back to the house for dinner. Naruto once again walked out in the middle of the meal, this time in a far better mood.

He waited in a clearing for Haku, near where he had met her yesterday. When he saw her he smiled, then his eyes were drawn to a small rabbit in her arms and he immediately tensed.

She noticed the subtle changes in his demeanour and asked him about it.

"Naruto-san, what's wrong? Are you not happy to see me?"

"That rabbit." He started "I've seen that rabbit before. It was right before Zabuza attacked us." He told her. "Now that I think about it, I never saw the oi-nin's face that came for him, they had a mask on."

She tensed as well. Not everything was given away, all he had alluded to was that she was the oi-nin from the other day, which she was. He still had said that he believed that she was working with Zabuza. She may not have to kill him yet.

"My team and I, we think that the oi-nin from the other day was working with Zabuza, after all, they are supposed to destroy the body where it falls and take the head back to the village as proof of the kill." He had gone and said what she did not want to hear. If he had gone on believing that she had actually disposed of the body then she could have let him live, but now, the choice was taken out of her hands.

Haku settled into a fighting stance, Naruto remained still.

"Why? Why did you not kill me when I was unaware yesterday? Why did you agree to come and talk with me again today?"

"Because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had no real reason to kill you, but now you know, you can report back to your sensei."

"That makes no sense. We would have ended up fighting at some point any way, surely you must have realised that and still you let me live. Why? It's because it's not in your nature to kill, isn't it?"

Haku remained silent. He took her silence as a signal to continue.

"Why do you still stand by him if all he requires you to do is kill, something that you seem to detest?" she looked at him with burning eyes.

"Because killing for Zabuza-sama gives me a purpose. He saved me from a path of nothingness. He gave me a use, to be his tool, to kill when he requires me to, to be discarded when the tool outlived its usefulness. All I needed to do remain his tool was not become useless and always have a function."

Naruto's gaze softened as he heard her reasons.

"Would you tell me about it? About your life?" Haku looked at him as though she was having some sort of great internal debate. She finally steeled herself to tell him her story.

"I used to live in Kirigakure with my mother and father as villagers. It was a simple life, but we were happy for a time. All around us was the blood wars in Mist. Anybody with a kekkei genkai was killed, they were feared. One day I was playing with water, when I managed to levitate it." She paused to draw a breath, checking if Naruto was still listening; to her surprise he still was.

"I was so excited, so I showed my mother. She looked at me like I was doing something horrible ad slapped me for it. My concentration broke and the water dropped to the floor, but it was too late, my father had already seen. Neither one of us realised that he was there. The next time we saw him was with a group of men. They killed my mother before turning to me. I had no choice, I killed them all. I still have no recollection to this day about how, but all I remember was everything being painted in red."

Her throat was starting to get dry from talking so much, but still she pressed on.

"After that I wandered, eating out of the trash, doing whatever I could to survive. I lived like this for some time before Zabuza-sama found me. He took me in and trained me, taught me everything he knew. I was to be his personal weapon. For the first time in a long time I was happy. I had a purpose."

"You were persecuted for something out of your control. Naruto said solemnly. "If you detest killing as you do why do you do it? Why should you have to kill, why fight us when you don't want to?"

"Can you understand? Not having a dream... not being needed by anyone... the pain of _merely being alive_ "

"Even if the purpose seems incorrect? As though you were using the tool for a purposed it was not designed for? What about your dreams now?"

"I want to protect the person important to me... I want to work for that person; I want to fight for that person... I want to make that person's dream come true... That is my dream..." 

Naruto remained silent. He had no retort to that; no reasonable counterargument.

"We have been out here for quite some time. I think it is best we get back to our camps."

"Meet me here again tomorrow."

"Why? There is nothing that you can say that will change my mind."

"I can still enjoy your company before we have to fight." A small smile crossed Haku's face. She truly did enjoy the boy's company, even if there was nothing said. She felt as though she could relax and even let her guard down a little.

"Very well then. I will meet you here tomorrow."

With that both left the clearing and went their different ways.

*********************************************************************

The next day saw all three perfecting the jutsu they were working on. Sakura and Sasuke had managed to make a few bunshin and were now practising the _suijinheki _like Naruto was. Naruto now had the proper form of the wall around him, but it was taking him far too long to make the wall around him. By the time he actually did so it would be pointless as the attack would have already hit.

By the end of the day Naruto was now able to raise the wall of water at a reasonable speed, he would move onto the _teppodama_ tomorrow. Sasuke and Sakura had managed to raise the wall of water. The problem was that if it was thick enough to protect against the attack, it didn't cover their whole body; if it covered their whole body it wasn't strong enough to protect against the attack.

Again they stopped late in the afternoon and went back for dinner. For once Naruto ate all the food on his plate, though he did eat at top speed so when he excused himself from the table the others were still eating anyway. He left the house and made his way to the clearing that he met Haku in yesterday.

Haku was already waiting there for him, her rabbit with her again; there was no point in trying to hide it now that he knew.

"I'm glad you came." He said to her.

"Likewise." Was all the response that he received.

"Listen. You told me your life story yesterday. To someone that was practically a stranger. I…want to return the favour." This gained Haku's interest. She sat down on the damp grass and waited for him to continue.

"Where to begin? You remember how I said that you were persecuted for things out of your control?" He saw her give small nod and continued.

"Well I am the same. Thirteen years ago the Kyuubi no Youko attacked Konoha. It was far too powerful for our shinobi forces to kill, they ended up getting slaughtered left and right"

Haku was confused, it made for a good story, but how did his home village's destruction tie in with his own life story?

"Well, everyone waited for the strongest in our village, the Hokage. When he appeared he defeated the beast. Everyone believed that he had killed it. It was impossible for a mere mortal to kill the beast; after all, the thing was immortal."

Her mind was trying to think of a way that he could have defeated the being without killing it. She could come up with nothing. By this account Konoha should have been razed to the ground.

"He sealed the thing. It was his only option. He sealed it into the only thing that would be able to hold it; a human baby."

Her eyed widened in realisation.

'He has the Fox sealed inside him?"

"That baby, it was you wasn't it?" she asked gently.

He nodded.

"Since that day, I was treated worse than trash, the villagers beat me, they tried to kill me in every way possible. The only people that seemed to care were the Hokage and a few of his ANBU. I found that there was a law preventing my knowledge of all this. I found out from my sensei as he tried to kill me."

Seeing the deadened look in his eyes she walked over and did the thing that came most naturally; she gave him a hug. There was nothing in it, just a hug to show that she understood his plight and was there for him right at that moment.

It was a shock to feel her arms around him. He felt comfortable, eventually returning the hug.

"You're not afraid? You don't think I'm some demon?" he was in shock. The only response was a warm smile. He didn't think that any one would ever accept him. He realised that he had not told Haku about Kakashi. Just as Zabuza had taken her in and trained her, Kakashi had taken him in and trained him, though not to the same extent.

"It's not all tragedy, though. In the end Kakashi-sensei adopted me. He's more like a big brother."

The two remained silent for some time, before Naruto spoke again.

"When we meet next, it may be as enemies. What will you do? Will you kill me and my friends? Or will you let us live, even if it goes against Zabuza's dream?"

"I would prefer to let you live, but only time will tell." She answered the question carefully, cautious not to commit herself to one side or the other.

"Naruto-san, it was good getting to know you. If we had met under different circumstances, I'm sure we would have been good friends."

"It's naive to say, but I wish this would all just work out somehow. Good bye for now, Haku-san."

With one last glance at the other both left the clearing and headed back to their temporary homes.

*********************************************************************

The next day Kakashi told all of his genin to rest; while he did estimate that it would be seven days before Zabuza was operational it could be less given that he was more or less in peak physical condition. Kakashi himself was almost completely recovered from his bout with Zabuza. He had been guarding his Tazuna while his genin learned the new jutsu. Fortunately no one attacked within this time making his recovery all the smoother.

Naruto and his two teammates just talked in the house for the day. Naruto only intermittently contributed to the conversation, he still had quite a bit on his mind, mostly what he would do if he had to fight Haku.

*********************************************************************

The following day saw Sasuke and Sakura go with Kakashi to the bridge to guard Tazuna. Naruto was left at home to guard Inari and Tsunami; the more Kakashi learned of Gato the more he understood the underhanded methods that he employed.

Naruto was in the house, rechecking his weaponry when he heard a loud crash down stairs followed by a scream from Tsunami.

"NO, PLEASE, LEAVE HIM ALONE. HE'S JUST A BOY."

Naruto cautiously went down stair to investigate. When he had a clear view he could see Tsunami being held captive by a man, with a beanie on with greyish hair dangling from the bottom around his face, he wore a grey jacket and black pants. The man had a katana strapped to his waist.

Inari was looking at his mother, feeling helpless. He finally understood why Naruto and his friends trained; to never feel as he did now. He was weak, he could do nothing, yet something had to be done; otherwise he would lose his mother. He had nothing he could do except rush in blindly and hope for the best; he did exactly that. He ignored his mother's calls to run and save his own life and continued charging towards his death.

Naruto saw the distraction and wasted no time in using it. He quickly replaced Inari with a log before rescuing Tsunami from her rope bindings.

"Why you little brat. Now the wench gets it." The man with grey hair said before aiming a slash to where Tsunami originally was only to find loose rope bindings. Quickly he aimed a slash at Naruto's midsection; it was easily parried before a kunai was lodged in the assailant's skull.

Naruto turned to Inari and Tsunami.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that, but I couldn't let him live. If he is here then it's a fairly good bet that Zabuza is on the bridge going after your father." Naruto said, addressing Tsunami more so than Inari.

"I have to go and help my teammates." Before leaving he turned to Inari." "Inari, I heard Kaiza's tale. I'm sure that for what you did, putting your mother ahead of yourself, he would be most proud." Without any further exchange Naruto left for the bridge.

Inari looked at him till he could see him no longer and realised what he had to do. He went inside and grabbed the cross bow before leaving to gather as many townspeople as he could to help in the fight against Gato.

*********************************************************************

**Meanwhile**

Kakashi, Sakura and Tazuna all arrived at the bridge to find bodies everywhere. They all seemed to be groaning in pain and trying to escape from whatever had left them in that condition. Team seven sans Naruto was immediately alert ad ready for battle. Their opponents appeared before them, Zabuza and the oi-nin that had come for him the other day when they first encountered each other.

"Well it seems we meet again Zabuza." Kakashi greeted.

"I don't have time for pleasantries Kakashi." Zabuza responded, forming five mizu bunshins and sending them to attack. Sasuke was shaking in his place, something that didn't go unnoticed by Zabuza.

"Look how poorly trained your student is, Kakashi. He's trembling in fear."

"Not fear, anticipation." Sasuke corrected

"Go Sasuke, Sakura guard Tazuna." Kakashi gave his orders and before anyone else could move the 5 bunshins were destroyed leaving only water around Sasuke.

"Well, it looks like you have some competition in speed Haku. Go take him, Kakashi is mine."

Zabuza and Kakashi watched their students exchanging blows for a short while. Sasuke started the trade of blows with a sweep with a kunai at Haku's neck, his was easily parried be Haku using senbon needles before a stabbing counter attack was made; with Haku holding 4 senbon in her right hand. The strike was dodged, though narrowly and resulted in both making another attempt at the same time. Their weapons met midstrike and the pair fought for domination, struggling to throw the other off balance and get a free shot in, they seemed fairly evenly matched. While their weapons were still locked Haku spoke.

"It seems that you are at a severe disadvantage."

"How so?" Sasuke asked back.

"First, we are surrounded by water, my element; secondly one of your hands is in use, preventing the use of hand seals."

"As I see it, the only advantage you have is that we are surrounded by water…" Sasuke countered before Haku started making one handed hand signs.

"Sensatsu suisho."

The hand signs ended and Haku stomped on the ground. The water from the mizu bunshins rose into the air, froze into needles and then all shot at terrific sped towards Sasuke. He had two options, defend or dodge. There was more than enough water available for _suijinheki_ but it would give Haku ample time to prepare another attack while he couldn't see out of the water shield properly. With only one real option left open to him, he focussed chakra into his legs, before springing four metres into the air. Kakashi's eye grew visibly wider.

'I've never seen that before. What have I gotten Sasuke into?' he thought to himself, now concerned for his student's safety. Zabuza words broke into his thoughts.

"Kakashi, let's get our rematch started."

He disappeared in a flash; Kakashi barely managed to follow his movement and backpedalled quickly. Not a moment after he moved Zabuza's blade crashed down where he was standing, breaking apart cement where the blade landed. Kakashi immediately raised his headband, once again revealing the sharingan eye.

"Kakashi, the last time you won, you tricked me. You caught me in a genjutsu of some kind by using that eye. You're not going to get the same chance this time, _kirigakure no jutsu. _I'm the master of the silent kill." Zabuza announced to Kakashi. "Tell me, how will you defeat me when you cannot hear me and you cannot see me? Which target will I strike? Lungs, liver, kidneys, subclavian artery, heart, brain, trachea or carotid artery?"

Zabuza's voice faded into the mist and Kakashi heard no more. He could see nothing, hear nothing, the only thing he had to go by was instinct alone.

'If I were Zabuza, where would I strike? What is the best target?' then the answer hit Kakashi like a thunderbolt. 'His mission is to kill Tazuna'. He realised before getting to the bridge builder as soon as he could. He got there just in the nick of time, blocking the great sword with a kunai, struggling under the weight of the sword. The pressure suddenly released and Zabuza had disappeared into the mist once again.

'I'm going to have to deal with Kakashi before taking out the old man.' thought an irate Zabuza.

Zabuza once again went for a vertical strike for where Kakashi was standing; Kakashi quickly sidestepped the incoming blade only. Zabuza realising that he had missed once again feathered his blade and making a wide swing in the direction that Kakashi dodged in. Kakashi jumped over the blade and ran in for a quick strike with his kunai, only to have to block the blade again; Zabuza had continued with the sweep full circle, gaining momentum with the blade as he swang. Kakashi was far too close to dodge and had to block to prevent himself from being sliced cleanly in two. The blade was swung with immense force; the weight of the blade and the power of the swing was enough to send Kakashi flying, Zabuza went haring after the body, going for another strike.

Haku and Sasuke's fight had gone to a completely new level. Sasuke was now surrounded by innumerable mirrors composed of ice. It seemed this was Haku's signature jutsu, making full use of her hyouton bloodline. Sasuke had also awakened his own bloodline. The dormant sharingan had manifested in his eyes. Once obsidian black, they are now red with one tomoe in each eye. Haku noticed the change in the eye and recognised it for what it was immediately, the sharingan was one of the most well known bloodlines in the world. Along with the sharingan came an increase in Sasuke's fighting ability. Her signature jutsu, _makyo hyosho_, grants her speed above anything else, it also allowed her to confuse her enemies as illusory images of herself appeared in every window, yet with the arrival of the sharingan in his eyes he was getting better at following and predicting her movements. She realised that she had to end this quickly before it got too far out of hand; the original intention was to keep him occupied while Zabuza killed Tazuna, then she could let the boy live.

Haku emerged from the mirror she was in and lashed out at Sasuke. She buried a fist deep into his gut making him double over holding his stomach. While he was bent over but still standing she delivered a devastating elbow to the back of the head, causing his face to go crashing into the concrete. Quickly retreating to another mirror while he was face down and unable to see she waited until he turned his back on her in a hopeless attempt to find her. The opportunity arose not long after, she threw a senbon at his spine in a non-lethal point, only to have it dodged and then a kunai thrown at her in retaliation.

'He couldn't have purposefully made that opening could he? Surely it would take longer to get used to those eyes.' Haku thought rapidly. She noticed him going through had seals and let him be for the time being, it would take far more power than a simple fire jutsu to destroy any of these mirrors.

"K_aton: gokakyu no jutsu."_ Sasuke watched as the fireball hit the mirror and had no visible effect. A moment of distracted irritation was all Haku needed. She emerged from a mirror and landed another hit, this time to Sasuke's temple, causing his vision to blur. A high aimed round house kick soon followed kicking him in the back of the head. He was starting to run out of options, fire jutsu were in effective against the mirror, she never came out of the mirror for very long and when she did her moves were devastating. If he used any jutsu she would see immediately, so using the water bunshin that he had leaned would be pointless as it would be swiftly destroyed simply meaning a waste of chakra.

Kakashi and Zabuza were still in a deadlock of sorts. Neither had landed a solid hit on one another, clothes were slashed and the only real damage dealt was when one or the other went flying due to a kick or a punch. Kakashi could hear Sasuke's screams through the mist and wanted to end this quickly, yet the opportunity to do so had not yet presented itself.

*********************************************************************

Naruto arrived at the bridge; the sight that greeted him was beyond bizarre. All he could make out was a great mist covering the battle field with Tazuna and Sakura guarding him at the very edge on the other side of the mist was a mass of rectangular sheets of ice forming something of a dome. Inside he could just make out a figure with black hair being battered around by something moving at very high speed. 'Sasuke' he thought wildly, not even considering a battle plan before rushing out to help his teammate.

"Haku-san, Stop this." Naruto called out through the thick mists.

"You know I cannot, Naruto-san. I live to serve Zabuza. He is ordering me to fight, if I do not I am as good as useless."

"Is this the way it must be? Will you go against your own desires of not killing, just to help him?"

"We all do what we must."

It seemed to Naruto that Haku had formed her own resolve; he would have to steel his will into fighting someone that he had formed a friendship with over the past few days. Naruto and Sasuke stood back to back. Naruto noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, it was the only warning he received before it was raining senbon al over the place. The two boys tried in vain to block as many as they could, their bodies being peppered in the needles, making it difficult to move. Naruto noticed the flash of movement again, but was faster on is reaction.

"_Fuuton: daitoppa." _He had intended on knocking Haku off course and out of the mirrors but he was too slow, he did however manage to knock a great deal of the thrown senbon out of the air.

Haku saw the move used and realised that he could only knock the senbon out of the air in one direction, but was not fast enough to track her movements. They were standing back to back, meaning that Sasuke could not see the jutsu and had failed to copy it. The solution was simple; attack Sasuke and get him out of the way, then once he was dealt with simply wait until Naruto was open and place him into a near death state like she had done Zabuza. Simple enough, though she would have to start trying to do more than simply, knock Sasuke out, her attempts had thus far have been unsuccessful, she would have to resort to maiming him if necessary.

The boys were carefully watching the mirrors when they saw all of them go through a short chain of hand seals as one.

"_Mizu no yaiba." _Haku announced. Before Sasuke or Naruto could react four of the mirrors had melted and were now forming blades of water all aimed at Sasuke. The all converged upon him leaving lacerations on both his arms across his body and on his left shoulder. This was all Sasuke's body could handle, he had withstood the brutal attacks Haku had inflicted, he had endured the countless senbon that had pierced his body, but this was too much for one body to handle, he collapsed under the strain he was feeling and passed out.

"I thought you hated killing? Why have you done this? If you had stepped aside all this could have been avoided."

"I could say the same to you Naruto-san. If your friend hand not chosen to fight he would not be in this condition. As it is he still lives, though he will die from his injuries if not treated soon." Naruto tensed at the information.

"Do you truly mean what you say? Do you truly wish to avoid his death?"

"I do, but there was no other option."

"Let me take him to Sakura. She is a medic, she can help him."

Haku gave him an appraising look before responding.

"Very well, but if you do not return immediately to finish this then I will simply go after the bridge builder. Naruto gave a short nod in recognition, before taking Sasuke's battered and bleeding body to Sakura.

Sakura saw a figure approaching out of the mist, when she saw that it was Naruto she almost relaxed…almost. When she noticed that he was carrying Sasuke bleeding and unconscious she feared the worst. Not giving her any time Naruto immediately spoke.

"Sakura, he's still alive. You have to look after him while I take care of Haku."

He set Sasuke down; Sakura started working on healing him in an instant, using _shosen jutsu_ in an attempt to heal the wounds. _Shosen_ _jutsu_ was not designed to heal such large wounds, but it was better than nothing and sho she tried.

When Naruto arrived back at the scene of the domes he noticed that they were all missing, only to find Haku standing in the middle of the bridge waiting for his return

"I'm glad you decided to finish this. I didn't want to have to kill the bridge builder myself."

Naruto wasted no words, he charged forwards, sending a left hook right at Haku's head. She bent backwards and planted her hands on the ground before pushing off the ground with her feet, connecting with Naruto's chin on the way up. Naruto stumble back slightly from the blow, before he had completely regained his senses Haku was already on the offensive, she sent a knee right towards his stomach. Parrying her left knee with his left hand Naruto used his free hand to punch Haku in the ribs as her momentum carried her past. Both stood firm, massaging different part of their body, there was a surprising amount of power behind each blow.

"_Kage_ _bunshin no jutsu." _Naruto was instantly surrounded by four bunshins, each taking drawing a kunai. One lunched a kunai, closely followed by another, the remaining two and the real Naruto closed the distance between Haku and themselves, kunai at the ready. The first thrown kunai was evaded; the second was plucked out of the air with little effort. She held the kunai in a reverse grip and ducked under a slash from one of the Naruto replicas before stabbing it between the rips and causing it to poof out of existence. The second bunshin was already on her, aiming to stab her in the chest with its kunai, she guided the kunai in the bunshins fist away from her, causing the bunshin to run too far in the direction it was redirected. Before it could turn around she had thrown the kunai she was wielding at it, making it disappear in a puff of smoke as well. There was only one left charging; the real Naruto, not that Haku knew of course. She prepared herself for the attack, deftly swatting the stab to the side she proceeded to forcefully jab the pressure receptor in the carotid artery causing the victim to fall to the ground (1). She did not even wait for the bunshin to disperse, she continue onto the remaining two opponents before noticing that they had disappeared, she looked back to where the last 'bunshin' was to see Naruto passed out on the floor.

She looked to the mist and noticed that it was starting to clear, either Zabuza was losing concentration, or the battle was going on for some time and Kakashi was outlasting him. The latter seemed more likely, Haku rushed into the battle in an attempt to aid Zabuza in any way that she could.

Kakashi had unsealed his ninjato from his ANBU days; it was proving to be a very effective strategy. While Zabuza was more than used to using his sword, both he and Kakashi seemed to be of an equal level physically, so it was hardly surprising when Kakashi had landed a few hits with the weapon. While it was heavier than a kunai, it had a far greater reach and was still far lighter than kubikiri honcho. Kakashi appeared to have his fair share of bruises from being dent flying by Zabuza's heavier weapon, but Zabuza was sporting some rather deep cuts from Kakashi's blade. Currently they were duelling for supremacy with their blades locked, Kakashi supporting the blunt of his blade with his free hand. He quickly had to end the contest as he noticed Haku sent a barrage of senbon his way.

"Haku, stay out of this. This is my fight." Zabuza ordered.

"Zabuza, we need to finish this. I will help you then you can finish the bridge builder and complete the mission.

The trio started trading blows again, Zabuza keeping to his kinjutsu techniques while Haku was throwing senbon from a distance. Zabuza had slowed sufficiently, a tell tale sign that wielding the heavy sword was taking its toll. Every time Kakashi moved in for a clean blow he was forced to dodge by a volley of senbon, when he went after Haku he was blocked by Zabuza. Eventually growing tired of getting nowhere, he formed his own plan in his head.

'Tazuna, forgive me for this.' He said a silent apology before making a _kage bunshin_.

The clone went chasing after Haku, which Zabuza immediately intercepted. It put up very little resistance when he tried to cut it in half. His was about to blade connect with the clone.

"Katsu!" Kakashi intoned, just as the bunshin was about to be destroyed. It exploded right in front of Zabuza sending him flying. While dust from the destroyed bridge was still floating in the air Kakashi quickly made his way towards Haku. She was unable to see clearly when the dust flew into the air, sensing something move to her right she threw the senbon in her hands, she heard a poof indicating she must have been a shadow clone. By now she was on high alert, something tripped her senses, again just out of her field of vision, throwing the senbon in the general direction she herd the clang of objects metal hitting each other.

'So that's where you are.' She thought triumphantly, throwing more senbon in the area. While she was distracted she never noticed that the real Kakashi was coming behind her; the one she was aiming at was simply a _kage bunshin_ used to distract her. She froze her actions immediately when she felt the cold steel of Kakashi's ninjato against her throat.

"Don't move." He ordered. The dust now settling from the explosion, Zabuza could now see the predicament that his apprentice had gotten herself into.

*********************************************************************Gato had organised an army of thugs, mercenaries and even a few rogue samurai. They were en route to the bridge now where the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi would take place. He looked behind himself and grinned; by the time he and his army arrived everybody would either be dead or too weak to fight. He could simply kill of all the ninja and forget about having to pay Zabuza. He would dearly love to have the head of that girl, Zabuza's apprentice, for breaking his hand.

When e arrived at the bridge he saw the remnants of the battle, there were gouges and craters all across the bridge. H smiled maniacally when he saw that the girl was a hair's breadth away from losing her head just as he would have wanted. Had he waited a moment longer he may have had his wish, but he decided to speak.

"Ninja-san, how kind of you to take out our trash."

"Gato! What are you doing here? This is our fight get lost and let me finish my job." Zabuza responded.

"Your job? You no longer have a job. The so called Demon of the Mist defeated by one man and a group of kids. Pathetic! I'll have these do the job for me." He said motioning to the army behind him. "They charge far less, some even do it for free, providing I allow them certain…pleasures afterwards." He grinned sickly. An arrow

"Kakashi, it seems that we no longer have a quarrel. Kakashi nodded and released Haku while Zabuza nodded and released the _kirigakure jutsu_.

"I will let them run wild in the town for a little while." He informed, his men cheered behind him anticipating the fun they were going to have.

An arrow lodged itself in the ground right in front of Gato. It was Inari and the townspeople that he had managed to gather in hopes of defeating Gato.

"You aren't going to set one foot in the village. Your days are over." Inari yelled.

Gato grunted in frustration, then he noticed a small pile of something not 10 meters in front of him. Realising that it was the unconscious body of a boy dressed in orange he motioned for a rogue samurai to pick it up. The man with brown hair growing in three large tufts on his head and a tattoo on his left arm complied and brought it back to his master.

"It seems you all didn't learn your lesson when I killed Kaiza. Maybe this time you will realise that I will kill anyone who defies me."

Kakashi realised what was happening but couldn't get there fast enough. Two of the samurai were holding Naruto's unconscious form, while a third, the one with tattoos, was lining his blade with Naruto's neck. It was over in an instant; Naruto's head parted company from his body. Kakashi slowed to a stop, his little brother was dead, he had failed is sensei. Sakura was in tears, her teammate was dead and she could do nothing about it. Inari fainted at the sight; his poor mind could not handle the sight of loosing another person that had inspired him. Naruto along with his teammates and sensei had helped him fully understand Kaiza's words and now he was gone.

Haku was in a state of shock. She started walking towards his remains, disregarding the fact that it was right in the middle of an enemy army "NARUTO!" she screamed in anguish. She had just met a person that had understood her pain and now he was gone.

Hearing the scream the samurai responsible for beheading Naruto smirked at Haku.

"What's wrong? Did I just kill your boyfriend? Well he's still warm if you want a goodbye kiss." His comrades chuckled darkly at the words as he held up Naruto's head for all to see.

It was true. Naruto's head was still warm after being killed, very warm in fact.

"ARGH!" the samurai screamed in pain, dropping Naruto's head as though it had burned him.

This got strange looks from everyone. He watched the head as he nursed his hand, which was now blistering from the heat Naruto's severed head was now producing.

As they watched the head red flames stated licking at his hair, spreading down his face until his entire head was consumed in a fiery blaze. Likewise, his body started to heat up, flames started erupting from his body until it too was completely ablaze. The flames went from a red, to a bright blue, Gato's army that was standing nearby cold feel the heat coming of his body, they all just stood there rooted to the spot watching as his body continued to burn.

Sakura was watching the whole thing; she watched as his body started to burn, she was so surprised that she was shocked out of her tears. Kakashi hope against hope that this would somehow be a good thing and that everything would somehow work out. They continued watching as the flame changes colour once again, moving from the intense blue to a blinding white.

Gato's army was slowly being killed. The heat was so intense from Naruto's body that it was killing them where they stood, burning them alive. Even Kakashi from where he stood could feel the intense heat and realised just how hot it must be from where the army was standing. Those at the back of the army were finding it incredibly hard to breathe. Then it hit them; the fire from the boy's body was so intense that all the oxygen in the area was being consumed by it, they were slowly suffocating as their air around them was consumed by the inferno.

Just as suddenly as it had started the flames slowly died down, going back through the blue flame before receding to the red flame and finally disappearing to cool down. Once the flames were gone it was possible to see Naruto's body, whole and complete, as though he was never beheaded. All around him stood piles of ash, the incinerated bodies of Gato and his army. Further back countless bodies lay where they had suffocated from the severe lack of oxygen.

*********************************************************************

**End chapter four**

Right as I said the second pairing is with Haku's. Please, I'm begging you, stop asking how this will happen and if there is a point because it is actually part of the story line.

I know there were a large number of votes for Hinata last chapter, the fact of the matter was that I had actually started writing this chapter and laying down the foundation for their future relationship.

Also, the votes were dubious at best. They all came in within about 40 mins from first to last, most of which were anonymous. Apologies if they were all legitimate votes, from 17 different people.

The underlined sections are direct quotes from Haku in the anime source Naruto Wiki (see below for full reference).

Naruto Wiki, Haku, last updated December 2008, .com/wiki/Haku, accessed on 16/12/2008.

(For those unaware, this is actually how to fully reference an internet site).

Finally, every one said they wanted an explanation to Naruto's immortality. That comes next chapter.

Kirigakure no jutsu – Hiding mist technique

Sensatsu Suisho- Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death

Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu – Water release: water encampment wall

Suiton: Teppodama - Water release: Gunshot

Mizu bunshin – water clone

Mizu no yaiba – water blade (this I something that I made up and would greatly appreciate it if someone actually told me the correct way to write 'water blade' in Japanese).

Have a merry Christmas all (if you celebrate) if not then have a great new year.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 5**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**The story**

*********************************************************************

Kakashi looked on, astounded at the sight before him. Naruto's head was severed, right before his very eyes. Then not a minute later his body and head erupted into flames, when the flames died out his killers were all dead while his body was completely reformed.

Sakura for her part dared not get her hopes up; she wouldn't rejoice until she felt his pulse. She got up and ran towards Naruto, only to be stopped by Kakashi grabbing her arm.

"You saw what happened. You saw the intensity of those flames. We can't be sure how hot it is in there."

Understanding that she may have potentially rushed into her death she waited by her sensei. Haku, unwilling to wait decided to speed up the process by summoning copious amounts of water to the area. As soon as it hit the ground it evaporated. Kakashi and Zabuza merely watched her. They could have easily helped her with a s_uiryudan_, but on the off chance that they hit Naruto they did not want to risk it. Eventually the water stopped evaporating and just started to pool on the ground around Naruto, an indication that it was closer to being a temperature suitable for humans.

Kakashi along with Haku and Sakura rushed in to check his vitals. Kakashi being the fastest of the three got there first and almost cried with joy at finding a strong and steady heart beat.

"He's alive." He informed the two girls.

Sakura broke down into tears from all the strain; first Sasuke was brought to her nearly dead, then her other teammate dies shortly after, only to be reincarnated. Haku let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding as the warm feeling of relief flooded through her body.

"We should all go back to Tazuna's house so Naruto and Sasuke can rest" Kakashi suggested

Tazuna looked somewhat apprehensive, he wasn't sure if Kakashi was including Zabuza and Haku in that. Sensing his unease Zabuza spoke to him.

"Relax, without an employer I have no reason to kill you."

With that they all moved out, Tazuna carrying an unconscious Inari, Sakura and Haku sharing the burden that was Naruto and Kakashi picking up Sasuke by himself.

*********************************************************************

_MINDSCAPE_

_Naruto was in front of the seal that contained Rei._

"_What the hell happened?"_

"_You died and were brought back to life. Remember, you are immortal. Your body is simply unused to the strain of reforming." Rei answered calmly._

"_Well, at least I have your chakra to help me recover."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Every time I was beaten, your chakra helped recover."_

"_My chakra can do nothing of the sort. It is toxic in any amount. Even though it grants you great power when you use it, your body has to purge itself clean of my chakra, getting rid of it from your coils. In short my chakra has no healing capabilities whatsoever." She informed. If Naruto had looked closely enough he would have seen that Rei's eyes were wells of sorrow. _

"_That leaves two questions then. First of all, how do I heal when my body is damaged? Secondly how do you heal when your chakra has no healing capabilities?" Naruto voiced aloud, looking somewhat vexed._

"_I can answer both, though it is more pressing that I answer your first question."_

"_How I heal myself?"_

"_Yes. I think I can say with some degree of certainty that you are not just a simple orphan, but you come from a clan" looking very interested Naruto gave Rei his undivided attention._

"_See if you can work it out from the clues I give you. First off, you have an extreme affinity for fire. Second, your body recovers from incredible damage in almost no time at all, finally when you die; you burst into flame, to be reborn whole again. What creature does that sound like to you?"_

"_The first two aren't really all that specific, but the last clue; it reminds me of a phoenix." Naruto replied."But that's ridiculous; there isn't a clan of phoenixes."_

"_There was at one time, before they all died. Apparently you are the last." Rei replied solemnly._

"_Died? I though you said that I was immortal." _

"_You are, phoenixes are not. Not completely, anyway. A phoenix has finite life span. When its natural life is over it simply turns to ash; it's just that they can't be killed in battle. The fact that you are immortal tells me that there is more to your heritage than meets the eye."_

_Naruto pondered the point for a moment longer. He was about to leave when Rei stopped him._

"_Naruto…I…could you…if it isn't too much trouble, could you at all visit or at least talk to me more often?" she stumbled on her words, unsure of how to get her message across, finally being as blunt as possible."_

_He looked at her for a second and the realised; he had not been to the seal since he was last unconscious, he had barely made use of the mental connection they shared._

"_If you don't want anything to do with me, I can understand. I was sealed in you and made your life hell. I can't do anything for you and if I try I end up poisoning you." She said in a rush all the while her head sinking lower to the ground._

_He looked at her and felt regret. He had ignored her all this time; he wouldn't let that happen again. He walked through the bars that separated them and put a hand to her front left leg before hugging it. She couldn't believe it. After all the pain she had caused him here he was hugging her leg like he had no issue with her at all._

"_Don't you hate me? I have caused you nothing but suffering at every step of your life."_

"_You explained to me that the attack was not your fault. Every time I see you here, you do nothing but dispel all of the beliefs that I once held about demons. You ask for a friend and some company, you are always polite and have even provided me with some information about my background."_

_She looked at him appraisingly before making her decision._

"_Step back for a second." He looked at her in confusion but obeyed none the less._

_A strained look came across her face before she started to shrink, her fur receding into her body, her face shortened and became more rounded, finally the only fur to lengthen was the fur on her head. When the transformation was complete he was faced with a woman that was 5'6 and fiery red hair. She was wearing a black kimono with a sliver obi around her waist and a design of a silver fox adorned her back. Her black zori sandals also had silver straps. _

_While she was dressed modestly, her features were only accentuated by her kimono. Her kimono adequately covered everything yet it was impossible not to notice that she had a somewhat sizeable bust, particularly when Naruto found that he was only at her chest height and that's where his eyes happened to be if he stared straight ahead. With how tightly the obi was tied around her waist it was possible to see that she only had a slight frame, as he surveyed her whole body. Her body tapered down from her slender shoulders to her waist before flaring out again for her hips, giving her a full figured appearance. When he looked at her face he was captivated, her alabaster skin looked so beautifully smooth and her features just seemed…perfect. She had high cheek bones and a slender face. Her eyes were big and the most entrancing shade of blood red, captivating him as though he were her prey._

_He was snapped out of his mind's wanderings when he felt her arms snake around his body and envelop him in a hug. They stayed like that for a while before Naruto realised that his shoulder was went and he could just barely make out Rei saying 'thank you' over and over._

_He pulled himself from her grasp and looked at her._

"_Thank you? Thank you for what?"_

"_For not hating me, for not leaving me here alone, for understanding." All he could do was smile; he didn't really have anything appropriate to say._

"_Do you…could you ever find it within you to forgive me?"_

"_There isn't a need. There is nothing to forgive. Everything was out of your control. You were ordered here by a god; not something that you can really go against. Madara Uchiha sent you into the rage, you weren't in control of yourself. The Yondaime sealed you into me, something I'm sure you never asked for. And the villagers, well they are just blind. They have been told the truth; most have disregarded it and come to their own conclusions, albeit in correct ones."_

_She looked at him once more, fresh tears springing forth. She hugged him once more and cried while he simply returned the hug, nothing more was said for quite some time. _

_All good things had to come to an end. Both Naruto and Rei realised that they couldn't stay like this for too much longer. Before leaving Rei reminded Naruto of her request._

"_You will still speak to me won't you, even while you're not here? Or even visit me once in a while?"_

"_Don't worry, I won't forget." Naruto promised her, he disappointed with himself for having abandoned her in this way, vowing never to do it again. _

*********************************************************************

He awoke with a start. He took a deep breathe through his nose to find the pleasant aroma of cooking food wafting through the air; he could make out bacon and eggs. Walking down stairs he saw Tsunami at the stove tending to the food, Tazuna Kakashi and Zabuza were all sitting around the table. Naruto froze, what the hell was Zabuza doing here? He observed the situation before being called out of his hiding place by Kakashi.

"Naruto relax, it's alright. You were unconscious and many things happened."

"So fill me in."

"Well after Haku knocked you out she came and helped Zabuza to fight me. After a short exchange I managed to gain the upper hand and was in position to kill Haku."

"They are not the same thing Kakashi." Zabuza snarled.

"Yes they are. If you didn't back off then Haku would have died." Naruto interjected.

"Well any way that was when Ga…" Kakashi continued only to be interrupted midsentence. Realising that this was going to be quite a heated exchange Kakashi stopped his story to save it for later and prepared to step in if necessary.

"She is merely a tool used for killing. If the tool can't kill or is broken then it is useless to me."

"She is human before that. She said that she has her own dreams. I really hate to question them, but when she says 'to live and serve my precious person' I wonder who gave her that dream. If she hadn't referred to you as somebody precious I would have said you placed it there." Naruto countered angrily.

"She had no life before me, so what does it matter if I use her life how I please."

"If a person gave you a hammer and told you it was to be used as a screw driver would you do it?" Naruto asked coldly.

"What? No, that's just stupid."

"My point exactly. You have given her a purpose in life, THE WRONG PURPOSE." Naruto was now yelling. "She hates killing, yet she does it for you; because that is the purpose you gave her. Give her a reason to live, a different one." Naruto finished in a far softer tone.

Zabuza was regarding Naruto carefully.

"Even if I wanted to; I can't. If I were to give her a different purpose she would die. I need someone that will kill. Otherwise they will get in my way and only slow me down. Being hunted does not give me that luxury" Zabuza stated, trying to Naruto to understand the life of a nuke-nin.

"Then settle down in a different village." Naruto replied hopefully.

"Boy, there isn't a village on earth that would take me in. I am a high ranking criminal. Kakashi is putting a lot on the line by even letting me live this long."

Naruto looked at his sensei and asked the question outright.

"What did he do that could be so bad?"

"There are many reasons why not to accept me. The most pressing and the one that resulted in my branding as a nuke-nin was that I tried to kill my kage."

Naruto's eyes widened.

'He tried to kill the leader of his own village?'

Kakashi broke into the conversation, trying to help Naruto grasp the situation easier.

"Naruto, if Leaf takes him in, then it is almost an open invitation to war."

Realising what he had suggested, Naruto looked considerably subdued.

Kakashi realised that this was the time to finish his story after there was no more argument between the two.

"OK as I was saying, Gato appeared when I had my sword to Haku's neck and effectively fired Zabuza. You were…you were killed, beheaded, by Gato's men. Only to burst into flame and be reincarnated whole again." Kakashi was incredibly interested in how that happened, but knew better than to ask in front of potential enemies. They may have reached a truce, but Zabuza was a loose cannon.

He left to ponder the situation. Zabuza, himself had been given quite a lot to think about.

Naruto found his teammates, Haku and Inari lazing around in the forest near the house. His teammates had been given time off to recuperate from the past few days. They all smiled at him when he arrived and Inari ran up and tackled him to the ground in a hug.

"Naruto-niichan is awake!" h practically yelled into Naruto's stomach.

He prised himself free of Inari's grip and went to greet his two teammates. Sakura went and hugged him.

"When you…died." it was still very hard for her to say that her teammate had died "When you died, I couldn't believe it. Don't ever make us worry like that again; otherwise I might make you regret coming back."

"Sakura-san, Sasuke-san; I'm sorry."

Haku's reaction was perhaps the strongest, strangest and most unexpected. She slapped him her across the cheek; Sakura and Sasuke's eyes bulged at the treatment.

"That was for dying and causing me so much pain; for leaving me when I had finally found someone that understood my pain and someone to share the burden with." She said with a steely look in her eyes. He gaze softened before continuing.

"And this is for coming back to me…us." She corrected herself before pecking him on the cheek that she had slapped. Naruto blushed from the roots of his hair to the line where his body disappeared into is shirt.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day you turned into a walking tomato. Hmmm…tomatoes." Sasuke mused

"Shut it you moron." Was the only response Naruto could think of in his flustered state. Haku just giggled at their antics.

"Tsunami-san is cooking, so we may as well go ad have something to eat. It should be ready by now. They all trekked back to the house and got something to eat. The rest of the day was spent talking and lazing about. It was decided that they would move out the next day giving Naruto one more day of recovery.

*********************************************************************

The next morning nearly the entire village sent them of on their way back to Konoha. It was quite an emotional scene for Inari, who felt as though he was losing yet another person that he held dear.

"Don't worry, I'll visit every once in a while." Naruto assured the young boy on the verge of tears.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

A short while out of the village they ran into Zabuza and Haku. Zabuza was the first to speak and cut straight to business.

"Kakashi, I have a favour to ask. Want you to take Haku back to Konoha with you."

The request shocked everyone present, including Haku. She looked at him like she had been mortally wounded.

"Am I no longer useful?" she asked plainly

"You are still useful Haku. But sooner or later the weapon will be without a master and then you will be back to square one." While he talked as he always had Kakashi and Haku noticed the changed look in his eyes, not the hard look he always bore, but a softer look. Haku looked at him and asked

"What will you do without me?"

"I am going to die." He said without hesitation. Haku gave him a shocked look and was about to protest when she saw him remove his head band and give them kubikiri honcho. A look of understanding swept across Kakashi's face and then he said

"Well thank you for helping us in killing Zabuza…" Kakashi left it open for him to fill in his new name, before he could respond Haku thought of one for him.

"Taro…Taro Momo." She said with a slight smile around her lips, Naruto sniggered. Zabuza thought about it and then surprisingly agreed.

"Fine, Taro Momo it is. If you ever want to find me again look me up as Nami's new guardian."

"Why can't Haku-san stay with you and help guard wave?" Sakura asked. Zabuza cast a quick glance at Naruto before answering.

"To find a purpose other than killing. I can't provide her with that."

He received a quick nod of acknowledgement from Naruto and a good bye hug from Haku before the group turned around to head home.

*********************************************************************

The trip back was completely uneventful save for the idle banter between the five on the way home. Naruto was dipping in and out of the conversations, only responding when he was addressed directly. He was actually talking to re on the way home.

'You mentioned some of the phoenixes traits when I was at the seal last. Is there anything else I should know; about anything.'

'_There are quite a few things that you need to be made aware of now; it will all come in good time. But if you mean about any other traits of the phoenixes, I'm afraid I don't know all of their abilities. After all, they are probably well guarded secrets.'_

'I see. Actually when I was last at the seal you also said that you could answer the reason why you don't need to heal yourself when you get damaged in battle.'

'_Yes, that's right, I did say that. Well basically the reason being is that I can't be damaged.'_

'Can't be damaged?'

'_Not in the true sense of the word, no. you see you and I are fundamentally different. While we are both immortal, but you are alive, I am not.'_

'Wait, what? If you aren't alive then how do you exist, do anything that the rest of us do such as interact with our environment?'

'_Naruto, I am merely a mass of chakra condensed into a physical form. It takes a lot of chakra to make it physical. You saw how large I am in my fox form. Between you Kakashi and Zabuza at full power you still wouldn't have enough to form a complete leg.'_

Naruto remained silent, understanding just how much chakra any of the demons possessed.

'I thought that the more tails you had in the demon world the more chakra and the higher your ranking_.'_

'_Correct. If takes that much chakra to make a leg, think about the amount it takes to make a tail. The truth is that when we have more than what is necessary to make a standard body they get turned into tails for convenience. Useful for battle and extra legs would look…unsightly. Many of your species measure power by how much chakra they have. In this sense we are merely power with an attached soul, a living weapon if you will. '_

It really was mind numbing stuff. He remained silent from all conversations for the rest of the trip home, trying t get his head around what he had just heard. It also left a few questions. Rei described herself as power with a soul. Why would Kami send someone like that to be my companion for eternity? Why not send a person who was alive instead of what could essentially be classed as a weapon? Not that he would ever regard Rei in that way after berating Zabu…Taro about it. No matter how much he pondered these two points he couldn't come up with an answer.

'If you are chakra, than how come you appear as a fox?'

'_That is simple enough. I appear that way because I have a sort of connection to foxes. It's not really anything solid, I just find myself drawn to the image of a fox, in the same way that I envisage my human appearance. That is why I appear as I do.'_

*********************************************************************

They all arrived at village after a few of days of travelling. Their first stop was the Hokage tower after getting clearance to enter the village from the guards.

"Hokage-sama, reporting back after an A rank mission to Wave." Kakashi announced as he entered the office with his team.

The Hokage and Iruka, who was in the office helping with paperwork, gave him a quizzical look.

"Care to repeat that, I fear I may have misheard you." He requested.

"Team seven reporting back from their A rank mission to wave."

"Explain." It was more of an order than a request.

"Well, not long after leaving we were ambushed by the demon brothers, the nuke-nin from Kiri. It came to light that Tazuna had deceived us and that he was marked as dead by Gato, the shipping magnate. Well, as we travelled further we encountered Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. He and I did battle, resulting in my victory. Before I could kill him his apprentice, Haku, saved him by posing as an oi-nin and putting him in a near death trance using senbon. She took his body away for 'disposal'. A mere 5 days later he confronted us on the bridge Tazuna was working on and rematched against us. Before either master or apprentice could be killed Gato appeared with an army, putting the fight to a premature end." Kakashi eyed the Hokage waiting for the reaction when he broke the next piece of news.

"When he arrived, he saw Naruto unconscious on the ground and ordered one of his samurai to behead Naruto. It was over in an instant, Naruto's head was lopped clean of his body."

From his vantage point Iruka could not see Naruto. He spat out his coffee and yelled at Kakashi.

"How can you act so calmly when one of your students is dead?"

"Iruka sensei, I'm right here." Naruto reassured.

"But…you're dead."

"Well, if I may continue, Naruto burst into flame a flame intense enough to kill all those around him. When the flames died down Naruto was left at the centre, his body reformed."

By now Sarutobi was rubbing his temple, trying to filter through what he had just heard and avoid a massive headache.

"So what happened to Zabuza in the end? I see his sword. Did he die?"

"Iruka I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." Kakashi asked.

Iruka gave him a patient look almost as if asking for some sort of an explanation.

"What I'm about to tell the Hokage is confidential and the less people that I put in danger with this secret the better." Giving an understanding nod Iruka walked out.

"Please call me back when you are done."

"We will. ANBU, you have a five minute break." The Hokage assured before dismissing his ANBU.

Once everyone had gone Kakashi continued.

"He discarded his identity as the Demon of the Mist. He is now guarding Nami no Kuni. We took his sword and head band as evidence seeing as we can't really take his head. Haku has decided to resettle in Konoha to pursue a different life style"

"I see. Call Iruka and the ANBU back in." Iruka walked in, the ANBU were nowhere to be seen. Sarutobi had long since given up on trying to ward off his headache and it was about to intensify in a short while.

"And this is Haku I presume?"

"Yes sir." Haku responded

"Well, what do you seek in the Hidden Leaf? To become a member of our ninja ranks? You could easily do so with Kakashi's recommendation."

"If at all possible, I'd like to study to be a hospital iryou-nin."

"It can be arranged. Perhaps you would like to work with Sakura? She is also training to be an iryou-nin, though with a field speciality." Not seeing any objections he decided to arrange it for later.

"Cat-san, please take Haku-san to the hotel nearest to Konoha General Hospital and check her in. Tell the attendant that I will sort out payment for the first two weeks."

An ANBU in battle armour appeared and beckoned Haku towards the door.

"Very well everyone but Naruto is dismissed. That includes the ANBU and you Iruka." Everybody trudged out of the office, Iruka could be heard grumbling something like '…calling us in and then dismissing us two minutes later…'. Kakashi waited just outside the door while every.

"Naruto I have something for you. This was entrusted to me to give to you. I had not planned on giving them to you this early, but after the events in wave, perhaps you will find answers in these."

Sarutobi handed Naruto two scrolls, both addressed to him.

Naruto opened the scrolls and started reading. First to be opened was the one that had rougher writing, leaving the scroll that bore writing more similar to calligraphy for later.

_Naruto,_

_If you are reading this then the first thing I should do is congratulate you on becoming a genin. This scroll is the only message that I can leave you as by the time you do read it I will be long dead._

_My name is Minato Namikaze, better known as the Yondaime Hokage. Now that you know this I must first apologise to you for the burden I left you with you. In case you are not aware, I did not kill the Kyuubi, I merely sealed it into a baby; you. I am sorry to have left with such a burden, but the only person I could ever truly trust was my own family, my own flesh and blood._

_Naruto, I am your father. Please know that your parents did not abandon you, we both died before you could even meet us._

_The seal I used to seal the Kyuubi into you calls forth Shinigami. As such, I am required to give my life in exchange for his services. Your mother's soul and my soul are tied together by a marriage pact. When my soul enters the belly of the Shinigami, so will hers._

_This marriage the pact is no ordinary pact. It is the pact of my clan and yours; the dragon clan. The dragon clan is an ancient clan originating from the borders of Suna and Iwa. I will not include too much information in this letter as everything you need to know will be in the clan scroll sealed in this scroll. _

_Yours truly,_

_Minato Uzumaki Namikaze_

Naruto's eyes were burning with tears. Not from sorrow, by from anger. Rage, he felt white hot rage.

"This scroll. It was supposed to be given to me when I graduated and became a genin." He looked at Sarutobi with nothing short of pure rage. Sarutobi had thought he had seen all of Naruto's emotions, but this was different. "WHY DID YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME?" he roared at Sarutobi. Kakashi entered the room in a flash.

"Naruto are you OK?"

'_Naruto, read the other letter before you start anything. Perhaps it may explain his actions.' _It was Rei's voice that pierced through his clouded mind and caused him to calm down slightly. He cast his eyes back to the scroll, but not before telling Kakashi what was going on.

"Hokage-sama has withheld a letter from my parents that was supposed to have been passed to me on my graduation from the academy to a genin." Kakashi remained silent, unsure what to say.

_Naruto,_

_I regret to tell you that by the time you read this scroll, I too will be long gone like your father. _

_My name is Kushina Uzumaki. Please forgive the both of us with the curse we have left you. When your father suggested that we seal the fox into you I refused, not wanting to damn you to such a torture. Please know that when your father mentioned it to me he looked most sorrowful, he had no other choice; the fox was just far too powerful for us to kill._

_Like your father, I too belong to a clan; the Phoenix clan. The many things that you must know are detailed in the clan scroll that I left for you. The one this that I must mention now is that when phoenixes die we burst into flame. This flame is so intense that it consumes nearly all the oxygen in the area and renders nearly anything to ash. Please be aware of that._

_As a final message from the both of us, know that we loved you deeply and that your parents never abandoned you._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze_

He took several deep breaths to try to calm himself down; it failed completely.

'Rei-san, there is nothing there that excuses him.'

'_I know Naruto-san. I won't interfere.'_

He gave both of the scrolls to Kakashi to read while he spoke to the Hokage.

"I'll ask again. Why did you keep those from me?"

"Naruto you have to understand my line of thinking. Your father was a hero here, but considered a villain in Iwa. I feared that you would want to take on his name as soon as you found out. Then every assassination squad from Iwa, and even their allies Kumo, would be after your life. I couldn't put you in such danger."

The Naruto, Sarutobi's defence was as feeble a new born baby.

"You could have told me and gone hard line that I couldn't take the name until I had earned it, or until I was truly ready to take on his enemies. Do you have any idea how many times I have wondered who my parents were? Whether they died in Rei's attack? Whether they abandoned me because of the sealing?"

"I still stand by what I said. It could have been dangerous."

"I'm not sure which one insults me more." The Hokage looked at him wondering what he was talking about. He was not left in doubt for very long as Naruto explained himself.

"I'm not sure whether you thinking so little of me is my main point of frustration or whether it's the fact that you ignored my father's last wish. A man who was entrusted with the wellbeing of this village; a man that you handpicked over your own student to become Hokage. Did you really have such little faith in him?"

Sarutobi's jaw slackened at the different point of view. He had noticed Kakashi had finished reading the letter and looked to him for some support. When he saw the cold look that was being returned he realised that he would receive none.

"The one thing that I cannot truly forgive you for is putting my teammates at risk."

"I never put anyone at risk." Sarutobi answered hotly. It was one thing to have your faults pointed out by a genin; it was another to be accused of something he had never done.

"No? You heard the report. Think about what would have happened if I had died standing next to my teammates. They would have been reduced to ashes along with the surrounding area."

It was strange to see the Hokage, a man one referred to as the Professor of shinobi, squirm under the furious gaze of one of his subordinates.

"I wasn't to know that would happen. You can't hold me responsible for everything."

"No you weren't to know, but my mother did. That is why both my mother and father stated that the scrolls were to be given when I became a genin. They knew the risk of dying would increase as I started my shinobi career."

Sarutobi looked as though he had a sudden epiphany. He had realised what he had done, but feared that this may have put a very heavy dent I his relationship with Naruto.

"Can you ever forgive me for this?" Sarutobi asked Naruto, almost pleading with him.

"Eventually, I may forgive you; but it will never be forgotten." He said as he walked out. Kakashi followed soon after leaving the old man to his thoughts.

Once out of the Hokage tower Kakashi turned to Naruto.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I think that I'll take the clan scrolls out and read through them. Then I might blow off a little steam in a training session."

Naruto looked at the seals on the scrolls in front of him.

"How do I get these things out exactly?"

"They are probably blood seals, designed so that only you could get the contents inside. All you have to do is swipe some of your blood over the seal and it should release."

Grabbing out a kunai, Naruto sliced his thumb and swiped his blood across the seal on each scroll. With a poof of smoke he was now holding two more scrolls in his hands.

"Here take these back home and store them _very_ safely. It wouldn't be good if someone found these." He said to Kakashi handing the letters from his parents to him.

"I'll see you later." Naruto bid Kakashi farewell, not even bothering to look up from the unopened scrolls before he went in the direction of the training grounds.

*********************************************************************

He had arrived at the most secluded training grounds that he could think of, training ground 44. Kakashi said that it was the place that he went to train when he did not want to be disturbed. He said that only a select few people train here and they generally leave you alone.

'_Are you going to get straight into training? Or will you look at those scrolls first?'_ Rei asked.

'I think I'll look into the scrolls first, just to see what my clans were able to do. You're welcome to look in if you feel like; you have access to my thoughts right?'

'_Only the ones you give me access to.'_

'Well the feel free to join in.'

'_Thank you.'_

He walked up to one of the large trees growing all through the training ground and perched himself on one of the thicker branches. He opened the clan scrolls the red one first.

_Naruto,_

_The first thing that you need to understand is that this is not the original clan scroll. This is only what I know of our techniques and abilities. _

_Before I write about our can techniques and abilities, I feel it is necessary to give you some insight to how we acquired them in the first place. This may be very difficult for you to believe, but as far as I am aware, it is the truth. The abilities of the phoenix clan were granted by the gods themselves. I do not know what it was our clan did to garner favour with the gods, but none-the-less they have seen fit to bestow this power upon us. Both your father and I have tried to research into the matter as his clan is very similar, sadly all our research did not yield a definitive answer. _

_In any case the main point of this document is for me to inform you of the clan abilities and techniques._

_The defining feature of our clan is to burst into flame upon our death. When this flame dies out, the phoenix will be reborn. The only thing that you need to note about this is that everything within a certain distance will be rendered to ashes._

_The next ability is that the water of our body is blessed to have amazing healing qualities. Many though it was simply our tears that had the healing capabilities. In truth, tears were the most acceptable for of healing an ally. Spitting is disgusting, many find drinking blood repugnant and I will not even discus the problems with using urine. For some reason this ability heals other far faster than it heals ourselves, though our own healing rate is nothing to be sneezed at. Finally these fluids cannot be stored for any substantial period of time; perhaps a day or so at best._

_Arguably the most powerful ability is our gift of using galdrar. A galdr is a song laced with our chakra that can have many amazing affects. Galdrar are different from techniques n that you cannot simply practice the song, you will only learn them if there is ever a need. As such it is possible to learn all of them, or learn none if you have no need. Galdrar can be extremely exhausting to perform, depending on what is being sung._

_Finally, the phoenixes have a summoning contact. This summons is for phoenixes._

'Ok…what in the hell? That is just plain screwed up. Hey Rei, what do you make of that?'

'_No offense, but it seems stupid to summon one of your clan when you have the same abilities.'_

'None taken and I agree with you.' Naruto replied, forgiving the minor insult to his clan.

_This summoning contract is far different from every other contract you may be familiar with. Phoenixes die of old age, a point where we will not be reincarnated. Once we die, our spirits join the summoning scroll and we attain our phoenix form. To summon the phoenixes, simply sign the contract in blood and perform the hands signs dog, boar, monkey, bird, ram then slam your hand on the ground and greet the summon. I should mention that the boss is Tobifushicho, one of our ancestors and a phoenix of epic proportions. _

'Well that explains a fair bit.' Naruto thought to Rei.

'_Indeed it does. Very unusual though. Souls that have died are destined to spend eternity in either hell or heaven, depending on their actions here on earth. What intrigues me I how your clan could have avoided this.'_

'There is more than a lot that concerns me that is unusual. Why couldn't I have just been a normal teenage boy working at the local food store?'

'_Because that would be boring. You'd get bored so easily and cause mischief for your employer.'_

'I suppose.'

_Finally, the phoenixes have a taijutsu style that we practice. This style can be practiced by anyone and it does not utilise any of our other capabilities, this style is called Reikoku Ken-ryuu. The style's underpinning is to use the power of rotation to add force to the blows dealt to the opponent; all the while using the same rotation to be able to evade or reduce the force any strikes against you. The basic stance is for the…_

'Not reading any further?' Rei asked.

'I have more than enough to think through, though a new taijutsu style would be better than the current one. Perhaps I can combine it with the academy style. Besides there is a jutsu that I want to work on and I haven't got it yet after Kami knows how many months of practicing.'

'You're talking about the bunshin bakuhatsu?'

'Yeah. When I saw it in the forbidden scroll all those months ago I loved the idea, but I still can't get it.'

'_Did the scroll say what to do?'_

"Sure. All it said I had to do was make the kage bunshin with a little extra chakra, then make the Ram seal and order it to detonate. Once I'm good enough I'm supposed to be able to do it without the hand sign, just the command. So far I can only make the clone, but it detonates as soon as it appears.'

'_Show me.'_ Rei commanded.

He created the clone; it appeared right next to him only for a short moment before

BOOM

Naruto went flying and a good 15 meters of the forest was now levelled into a small crater.

"Urgh! That hurt like hell." Naruto voiced his pain out aloud

'_So, you're putting in the extra chakra and it's exploding as soon as it is performed? Then try making an ordinary clone.'_

Naruto complied, awaiting further instructions.

'_Now command it to explode.'_

Naruto didn't even give it a second thought; he put his hands together in the ram and commanded his clone to explode…unfortunately he had forgotten to move away.

"_Katsu!" _The clone exploded sending him flying once more crashing into the trunk of a tree while leaving another crater in the ground.

"Should've thought to move before I tried that." He groaned through his pain. "Hey how did that work."

'_I'm gonna go off of an assumption and say that when you form clones you form them with enough chakra to make them exploding clones anyway. When you command the clone to explode it use the chakra that returns to your body to destabilise the rest of the chakra in the clone and make it explode violently instead of gently returning to nature.'_

'Wait…charka returns to my body? Destabilise chakra? What are you going on about?'

'_Haven't you ever noticed that when you create a clone you gain some of the clone's memories?' Naruto remained silent indicating that he was waiting for Rei to continue. 'I suppose it's because you always use them to help you with a task and your concentration is always on the same thing. In any case, how you suppose that is possible? Think about what I am.'_

'What are you?' He asked rhetorically. 'You are a soul with chakra attached; you described yourself as a weapon. The kage bunshin in its most basic sense is also a weapon. Does that mean that all my clones have a soul attached?'

'_Nearly. They all have a fragment of your soul, so when they disperse some of the chakra and the fragment of your soul returns to you, giving you the experiences of that soul. I'm guessing the reason that all your clones don't explode is because you are not using the chakra that returns to you to destabilise the rest of the clone and get it to explode.'_ Rei explained.

'Wait, by using exploding clones does that mean that I'm losing pieces of my soul?'

'_Perhaps I didn't explain that too well. As mentioned, the clone is nothing more than chakra with a soul attached. All you are doing is completely removing all of the attached chakra and causing the clone to explode. The soul fragment comes back to you regardless; it's just that you don't regain any chakra from the technique either.'_

'Oh, I see.' Naruto sighed, considerably relieved that he wasn't losing his soul.

'_Now, I've just thought of a brilliant game that you can play to work on both you exploding clones and that new taijutsu in your mother's scroll.'_

Naruto picked up the scroll and began reading from where he left off.

_The basic stance for Reikoku Ken-ryuu changes depending on which direction you wish to rotate. The direction of rotation is determined by two things; the preference of the user and the fighting of the opponent. An opponent that fight primarily using left sided strike will be more evaded and countered by a right to left spin. The inverse is also true and a person attacking with their right is better countered with a left to right spin._

'_I see. So you're supposed to use pivots to simply evade the opponent and then strike by using the power of the pivot to strengthen the blow.'_ Rei surmised to Naruto.

'I get that much but how is the bunshin bakuhatsu going to help with learning this style?'

'_Simple. You create one and have it come at you. I assume the clones can either be innervated by you to explode or can do so on their own choosing as they do have a part of your soul attached to make decisions for themselves. You will be trying to avoid its attacks because if you don't then you know the result.'_

Naruto's eyes widened and realised what she was talking about, then that same uncanny grin came across his face and he set to work.

*********************************************************************

BOOM

"Argh! God dammit! That's the seventh or eighth explosion in the last 20 minutes. Can't I ever get any peace and quiet around here?" A woman screamed after hearing yet another explosion in the otherwise peaceful forest.

BOOM

Another explosion was heard not 5 minutes later.

"That does it! When I find the shit that is responsible for this I'm gonna feed him to my snakes." The woman donned her tan coloured trench coat that was resting on a nearby tree branch before setting out.

She silently leapt through the trees hearing another two explosions in the 10 minutes that she was searching for her prey. When she came to an area that seemed almost levelled she knew she had found her destination. She watched silently as boy with blonde hair waring an orange jumpsuit fought, or rather tried to evade a clone. He was spinning out of all of the attacks that the clone was sending his way.

'What the hell is he doing? I've been watching him for what 6 minutes and he has completely ignored all of the openings.' Then the clone made contact and

BOOM

The boy was sent flying through the forest to crash into the tree that the woman was perched on.

'I get it now; he's training in evasion. Now that is just my style, training with a risk of death.' The woman thought, all anger with him forgotten.

She leaped down from her perch and approached the kid who was about to create another exploding clone.

"Hey kid!" Naruto looked around and spotted a purple haired woman with a tan trench coat, miniskirt and not much else on. "How 'bout a training partner?"

"Why would you do that?" Naruto asked cautiously; it wasn't often that people he didn't know offered to help him unless they had their own agenda.

"Two reasons A) the explosions are annoying, B) I feel like beating up on something." Well she had said it; she didn't hide the fact that she wanted to ground him to a pulp.

'_Naruto, take to opportunity. Because she can't explode she can give chase after she hits you. It will give you to chance to practice on countering after being knocked down.'_

Naruto grinned at Rei's logic before addressing the woman.

"Before we start, what's your name?

"Anko Mitarashi. And you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." A look of recognition passed over Anko's face before she settled into a fighting stance.

"Now that the pleasantries are over, let's begin." And begin they did. Before Naruto even had a chance to begin his rotation she was already upon him. She delivered an earth shattering punch to his jaw, tilting his head back putting it in the prime position for a punch to the throat. Naruto saw the fist coming and did the first this that came to his head 'pivot'.

He spun around the right cross and attempted to use a back fist when she ducked out of the line of attack. While she was down low she went for a strike to the ribs, he didn't stop pivoting all the while and brought his left knee to her head, making full contact. She dropped to the ground in a daze and he planted to knees between her should blades, keeping her pinned.

"Well I win the first round." He said to her with some glee in her voice. Anko wore a maniacal grin and simply replied.

"I guess I underestimated you." Before disappearing and then reappearing right next to Naruto.

Screams of pain could be heard all across the forest along with raucous cackling from another revelling in the first person's pain.

*********************************************************************

Some hours later we find Anko dropping an unconscious and heavily battered Naruto at the Konoha General Hospital. He was taken to his own personal room and seen to by Megumi.

Megumi looked over Naruto with a simple scanning jutsu before turning to Anko.

"What in the hell happened? He has more broken ribs than I'd care to count and some severe bruising on his stomach and arms."

Well that's what happens when a genin tries to fight a jounin." Anko replied casually.

"YOU WHAT?" Megumi screeched, apoplectic with rage.

"Relax, I offered to help him to train. I underestimated him a little and he landed blow to the head, damn good one to. Well I couldn't have him getting cocky so I started going pretty hard."

"Trust Naruto to bite off more than he can chew."

"I wouldn't say more than he could chew." Anko corrected. He was landing a few hits after a while. It's almost as if he was improving with what he was doing there and then."

Shaking her head she stopped talking to Anko and started healing the boy of his injuries. Anko took this as her cue to leave and did exactly that.

*********************************************************************

Naruto awoke to the look of a white roof.

'The hospital.' He thought dully.

'_That woman was incredibly powerful.'_

'You're telling me. I thought she was gonna kill me. At least she didn't leave me there.' He mentally replied to his tenant.

"Ah, you're up. Well that's unexpected. You were only out for little over a day, day." It was Megumi that had just entered the room, this time with her two students.

"Don't worry, I've told Kakashi-sensei. He knows that your here." Sakura assured her teammate.

"Cheers. I got knocked silly by Anko-san."

"Well how do you feel?" Sakura asked.

"Better after a night's recovery."

"Not physically. How do you feel letting a chick beat you. Damage your pride any?" she smirked, she was only teasing.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time that it's happened. Besides, the same girl that beat me also beat Sasuke." He replied white giving a pointed look in Haku's direction. Haku looked slightly sheepish.

"To be fair Anko-san is a jounin. It was to be expected." The group remained silent.

"Naruto, I'm going to let Haku perform the scanning jutsu on you while Sakura can practice her _shosen jutsu_ to heal any minor wounds that might be left. You're pretty much healed anyway." Megumi informed, giving her apprentices the chance to practice as the remaining damage to Naruto was minimal.

Haku went through a few hand seals before her hand started glowing green. She started at his head and moved her way lower until she had scanned his entire body.

"Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary." She said to her sensei.

Megumi repeated the same process just in case she had missed something.

"Good work Haku-san, correct. Naruto you are free to leave, but try to stay out of trouble."

"Thank you Megumi-san. Haku, I know your busy here like Sakura, but maybe you could come out to our team practices and meet the rest of the gang."

"Thank you, Naruto-san. It would be nice to make more friends in a new village."

With that Naruto left the hospital to return to his secluded training spot.

'_Thinking of reading through the other scroll today?'_

'No secrets from you are there Rei-san? Well there is that, but there is also something else that I want to try.'

'_Why so full of mysteries? You're not allowing me access to what you have planned. Though I must say that I am intrigued about your father's scroll and what it contains.'_

**A short while later**

Naruto has once again made his way back to the section of training ground 44 that he had destroyed the previous day.

'Well time to see what this one has to say.'

'_Indeed. This should be interesting.' _Rei replied.

_Naruto,_

_This scroll lists all of our clan techniques as best I can. This is written in my hand writing because it is seen as a point of pride to be able to pass down the clan history by word of mouth to one's own children. Being unable to do that I had to write everything out that I could think of._

_The first thing that you need to be aware of is that dragons do not die of old age. We only die through a mortal wound and we do not age beyond a certain point._

'Well that explains my immortality. Resurrection from any mortal wound along with healing bodily fluids from the phoenixes.'

'_And eternal life and youth from the dragons.'_

'Well, let's see what else I can do.'

_The next and most important thing to consider is your formeshift ability. All members of the dragon clan are able to shift their form into that of a dragon. In this form your body is far more powerful than it was in your human form. It is also far more resistant to physical battering and elemental jutsu, with one exception. When we shift into our dragon forms the metal ions in our bodies rearrange themselves to form a solid metal lattice. Only the most intense of flame can burn, or more accurately melt you. Earth water and wind jutsu are also near useless unless they have the ability to put your body under extreme pressure, I'm talking centre of the earth pressure._

_The major drawback is lighting jutsu. Because your body is now made of mostly metal with a sensory system; it is easy to understand how lightning jutsu could pose such a threat. In this form even the most basic of lightening jutsu will feel like a bolt of lightning. This leaves little doubt that a mid-high level ration jutsu could kill you._

_To actually transform you need to focus on the call to actually transform. It will be present after battling for a time; you will feel a pull to become more primal, for want of a better word. You are a special case, I just hope that you do not confuse this calling with the Kyuubi's bloodlust and unleash something truly terrifying._

'_Something that you will never have to worry about, Naruto-san.' _Rei assured Naruto.

_Your mother may have mentioned this in her letter, but this as all possible by the graces of the gods. When we were searching for answers we came across some information that led us to want to investigate a place called the Hall of Eight Fathoms. _

_If you truly seek answers as we do then this is the place that you must search._

_There is one other place that you must go to. It is the home place of the dragons located in the mountain range between Kaze no Kuni and Iwa no Kuni. There you can meet with the first leaders of the dragon clan and from then you may learn the sword style passed down through the dragon clan; Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu._

_There is one other reason to meet with them. To be considered the clan head you must be tested and deemed worthy by one of the past clan heads on your sixteenth birthday. This is the only way to be considered the true clan head._

_My final testament to you is the summoning of the dragon clan. This summoning is something that I hope that you ever have to use for it summons the Shinigami. The price for summoning the Shinigami is high. Depending on what you require of it and what is done it may take your very soul from your body. This is only to be used as a last resort. The hand signs for this justu are different to the usual summoning. They are snake, boar, ram, rabbit, dog, rat, bird, horse and snake._

_As I said use this only as a last resort and good luck in mastering your dragon form._

'Well even more to think about. Do you have any idea what is in this hall of the eight fathom place?'

"_I know exactly what it is, but it will require some back story for me to explain.' _

'I don't mind listening.'

'_You may or may not know the creation story of our world; it was long disregarded as just a tale and nothing more; nothing could be further from the truth. The story says that before there was anything there was simply chaos, without form and without any real definition. From the chaos the plain emerged that we now know as heaven. In time three deities were born Ame-no-Minaka-Nushi-no-Mikoto (the Deity-of-the-August-Centre-of-Heaven) Takami-Musubi-no-Mikoto (the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity), and Kammi-Musubi-no-Mikoto (the Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity). These three deities are collectively known as the creation deities. They gave rise to the two beings called Izanagi and Izanami, who were then gifted with Ama-no-Nuboko a spear that was used to create the elemental countries as you know them today.'_

'Ok, I've never heard the story, but how does it fit into the place my parents wanted to go and find?'

'_I'm getting to that. After their work was done and the world was formed they erected a pillar that was in honour of the creation deities, the_ _Heavenly August Pillar. Wishing to become married they wound themselves around the pillar and performed a marriage ritual, only it was performed incorrectly and all the children that Izanami gave birth to were disgusting and vile travesties of nature, left to die.'_

'How was the marriage ceremony performed incorrectly' Rei smiled at the insightful question as it was about to be answered by the next part of the tale.

'_Upon conferring with the gods as to what went wrong, they were told that at the start of the ceremony Izanami was the first to speak and as the woman she should have waited for Izanagi to speak first. This impropriety caused their malformed children. They repeated the ceremony and then Izanami gave birth to all of the different Kamis.'_

'All the different ones? I thought that there was only one.'

'_There is one and there are many. They are the different Kamis that are parts of the one whole Kami. In any case after they had finished giving birth to the Kamis Izanagi and Izanami built the Hall of eight fathoms around the Heavenly August Pillar'_

'So the hall of eight fathoms is the place that houses the Heavenly August Pillar.'

'_Yes. It is said to be the only place that a mortal can actually converse with the gods directly.'_

'Man this is a serious head fuck. I need some time to think that over. In the mean time I'm going to try that thing that I wanted to try.' Rei remained silent knowing that he would tell her if he had gone to the trouble of blocking her access to these thoughts.

Naruto put his hands into the cross shaped seal that he used for his _kage bunshin _jutsu_._

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu!" _He announced. As soon as the smoke cleared there was Rei standing in all her glory in the forest with Naruto.

'_What did you do?_

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**End chapter 5**

Ok crap place to end I know, but if I go beyond this point I will have to write WAY more than should be allowed for a single chapter.

Now aside from me saying that his abilities are gifts from the Gods, you should realise that part of this is to not simply accept that as a fact, but to find out why the gods gave those clans that gift.

As a last part comes reference. The small creation myth in the chapter was actually based on one of the different variations of an actual creation myth, tweaked for my purposes. To that end, if I have offended anybody by changing the creation myth then I am sincerely sorry. The website's full reference is below as it is not my own thinking.

**Genji Shibukawa, **_**Tales from the Kojiki, **_** .edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_ , accessed on the 22/12/2008**

Well apparently the lat part wasn't a reference. I'm just too lazy to change stuff around and I'm writing this now while it pops into my head. This might be the last time I update for about three weeks. I have the Life Saving National Championships soon and have to get back to a decent training regimen as well as a decent sleeping pattern.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 6**

First thanks for those that have been patient enough to wait for this chapter. There must have been some plot to prevent me from releasing the chapter. Seriously, I get back from Canberra and I get an attack of the lazies before starting the chapter (Ok so that was my fault). Then the file somehow got deleted. Next there were periodic blackouts in my street on my side of the street. Finally when I actually did finish my internet got disconnected. Seriously…WTF?

Secondly, I would like to send thanks to those that reviewed, while I don't ask for them it still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that at least one person likes what I wrote.

That being said, I feel I must extend thanks to Narilyte and VyseN; both leaving MASSIVE reviews. In Naryilte's case citing some massive errors within the fic (if you want to know what these are simply write in a review that you would and if enough people care I will post the largest stuff ups along with the next chapter). These errors will be corrected as soon as possible.

In any case, on with chapter 6.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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'_What did you do?' _Rei thought to Naruto. Naruto just stood there not answering; then it hit her.

'_I'm no longer inside Naruto so we no longer share the link.' _

Voicing her question out loud so that he could hear she asked again.

"How am I outside of the seal?" her voice held utter disbelief.

Naruto gave her a foxy grin that was so characteristic of him before answering.

"You gave me hints about what I needed to do. It was actually because of my conversations with you that this is possible."

"Really? How so?" she was genuinely intrigued. She couldn't distinctly remember a conversation that would have help circumvent a seal placed by a god.

"Well, the first was that you said that you were chakra with a soul attached. The second thing was when you helped me understand the nature of a kage bunshin. In all essence you and it are fundamentally the same."

Rei was nodding, telling Naruto that she was listening and understanding what he was talking about.

"The final part was to realise what it was exactly that the seal actually sealed."

Rei looked thoughtful before realising what he was talking about.

"My chakra _and_ my soul."

"Exactly. If the seal could allow either one of us to force your chakra through it, then there also had to be the possibility that I could also let out your soul."

"So then you created a bunshin with your chakra and my soul. It took on my form because that is what my soul most strongly identifies with." Naruto only nodded in agreement as a response. Naruto looked thoughtful before voicing his question.

"What would happen if we tried to use both your chakra and your soul?" They looked at each other before Rei offered her opinion.

"It isn't something worth considering. Remember, my chakra poisons you. Even if it can't actually kill you, there is no need to put yourself through anything unnecessary."

She paused slightly before walking over.

"And besides, I'm more than grateful that you could get this far." She said, pecking him on the cheek as a reward before taking the time to look around and experience everything around her. Naruto simply turned into a walking tomato after the kiss and was glad that Rei's attention was elsewhere.

"So what now?" Rei asked, unsure of what to do with her new found freedom.

Naruto looked thoughtful before piping up.

"How bout taking a walk around the village? That way you can experience everything for yourself instead of through me. "

"I would like that."

"Um…maybe we should put you into a henge. If anyone asks I can just say that you're a friend."

"Why can't I be your friend in my adult form?"

"Because aniki knows all the ninja, meaning that you won't be able to say that you are one if we stumble across him and all the adult civilians hate me." He stopped for a second before correcting himself. "Well every one other than Teuchi and Keiichi."

Without further argument Rei was placed into a henge and they set about the village with no particular destination.

As they were doing circuits in the village they ran into various people that Naruto knew, each time introducing them to Rei as a civilian friend from childhood. Naruto was currently introducing her to Konohamaru, the Sandaime's grandson, and his friends Udon and Moegi. Naruto had met Konohamaru through his many dealings with the Sandaime, a thought that made him wince due to the past few days of revelations.

"Naruto-niichan! Naruto-niichan, is that your girlfriend?"

Naruto just turned red faster than a traffic light.

"NO! I mean…no, she's just a friend that has been with me longer than anyone else."

Rei just beamed at his words.

"Well whatever, just don't complain when she gets tak…"

An ANBU had just shunshined into the area and started speaking over Konohamaru.

"Naruto-san, your presence is requested in the Hokage's office." Having delivered his message the ANBU shunshined away.

A frown crossed Naruto's face before heading there with Rei not wanting to leave her there on her own.

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Once Naruto had arrived in the office Sarutobi wasted no time in asking Rei to leave the room as the things he wanted to discus were of a very personal nature.

"Naruto, I'm calling you hear about our conversation yesterday."

Naruto frowned, not wanting to discuss the issue that was still a sore point. Sarutobi not giving him a chance to object continued immediately.

"Yesterday in our conversation you said that you weren't sure if your parents died in 'Rei's attack'. While that wasn't the main part of the conversation, I need to ask, is Rei really who I think she is?"

Naruto looked aghast, realising the slip up that he had made in his rage. No doubt Kakashi would have noticed it as well.

"I need to ask, are you in contact with the Kyuubi?"

"Why should I answer? You kept secrets from me all of my life." Was Naruto's retort.

"Naruto, I do what I do because I have the best intentions village and its occupants. Obviously there have been times when my judgement was incorrect but this is something that I must know about. The Kyuubi is malicious and will try just about anything to get out of its seal."

"First off the stop calling her 'Kyuubi', it's a title, not her name. Secondly, she isn't malicious."

Sarutobi would have grinned if he wasn't a ninja. Naruto completely forgot to deny that he was in contact with the Kyuubi, but also gave very strong evidence that he was indeed talking with it.

"You can honestly say that after the attack that nearly razed Konoha to the ground?"

"That was not her fault. She was tricked by someone. She said his name was Madara Uchiha."

"Naruto, that person is dead. He died in a fight with the Shodaime Hokage many years ago."

"I'm simply reporting what I have discussed with her. If you really want to you can discuss it with Rei."

Sarutobi couldn't school his features for this. If anything he was not expecting to be offered to speak with the demon.

"And how would you suggest that I do that."

"You sent her out a moment ago." Sarutobi's eyes went wide with realisation.

Seeing as all of the ANBU had been sent out of the room he ordered Naruto to fetch the girl. As she was ushered in Sarutobi levelled a very calculating look at Rei, while his face looked calm it was clear that he was on guard.

"Kyuubi no Youko, how did you escape from the seal?"

"It's Rei and she is only a _kage bunshin_. My chakra containing her soul."

"How is that possible? There is a seal that contains her."

"Well if it was possible for chakra to slip through the seal then I figured it was also possible to have her soul get through as well."

Sarutobi nodded at the explanation, understanding the mechanism behind the _kage bunshin._

"Naruto tells me that you did not attack by your own will, but you were forced by a man named Madara Uchiha. Explain to me how this is so when he died many years ago in a fight with one of my own senseis."

"I don't know how that is possible. Perhaps he had some sort of gift longevity. All I know is that he tried to persuade me to join his cause. When I refuse he tried to use force, but I did not react in the way any one would expect to his genjutsu. I was sent into a rage and attacked Konoha."

"Quite a tale. You see for me to believe you it means that I must admit that Madara had a hand in this. While I find this difficult I will simply choose to find more information to come to a conclusion. Another question is why you came to earth in the first place. Why come out of Makai or the plane of the heavens, where ever it was that you resided."

Rei did not answer immediately; she merely looked at Naruto, something that did not go unnoticed by Sarutobi. Naruto chose to speak up at this point.

"If I tell you this, I'm going to want Kakashi-niichan to hear this as well. It is only fair to him."

The Hokage gave a sharp nod before resummoning one of his ANBU and sending them to get the copy-nin.

15 minutes later Kakashi was in the office. He was told that anything less than an immediate attendance for this situation would incur serious penalties. The ANBU in question, wearing a cat mask, had mentioned something about fire and a certain orange book if his presence was not made to the Hokage immediately.

Kakashi had just been briefed about the discussion that Naruto, Rei and the Hokage had just had.

"That is quite a lot to take in all at once." Kakashi stated rather pensively.

"Well now that you are up to date with everything I believe that Naruto was about to explain the purpose behind the Kyuu…Rei'-san's appearance." Sarutobi quickly corrected himself ask he caught Naruto's darkening features.

"Well it starts with my parentage. I belong to two clans; my mother of the phoenixes and my father of the dragons. The phoenix clan is known for their regenerative ability, able to heal most wounds and is reborn from any fatal wounds. It turns out that the dragon clan experience eternal youth and eternal life, barring a mortal death. Given I have the blood of both clans I am actually immortal."

Sarutobi's pipe dropped out of his mouth and Kakashi's visible eye widened considerably.

"Well Rei-san was sent down by Kami to be a companion throughout my life. Eventually all of you will die and I would have been left all alone. Rei-san is here to prevent that."

Sarutobi had a very sombre look on his face, as if coming to grip with the enormity of what he was just told. For the first time in his life Kakashi looked as though he was absolutely stupefied.

"That is…I don't even know how to respond to that." Sarutobi had tried to say something relevant to the situation by was at a complete loss for words.

It was at this point that Rei decided to remind Naruto of his father's letter.

"Naruto-san, remember your father's directive in his letter?"

Naruto looked thoughtful before realising what she meant.

"Hokage-sama, is there any way that I would be able to travel to the mountains separating Suna and Iwa?"

"Why would you need to travel there of all places?"

"In my father's letter he said it was the ancestral home of the dragons and said that it was vital that I visited there."

Sarutobi contemplated the issue before coming to a conclusion.

"I will allow it but you will have to wait for a few days for your travelling partner to arrive. You will be going with one of my ex-students, Jiraiya."

"I was kinda hoping you'd let me go with niichan."

"Sorry Naruto but that isn't an option. I have responsibilities to Sasuke and Sakura as well as you and seeing as they probably shouldn't come along I can't come with you." Kakashi responded, telling Naruto just how impossible it was for him to come. Sarutobi picked up where Kakashi left off.

"You will need to have the best protection available when going anywhere near Iwa at this point."

"Why, nobody knows I'm the son of the Yondaime."

"Iwa's hatred for the Yondaime is so powerful that you wearing a Konoha head band along with the resemblance between the two of you would be more than enough to make you a target."

Naruto nodded and simply asked "When will he get here?"

"I'm not too sure. It could take a while depending on where he has to travel from. Well if you have no further bombs to drop then you are dismissed."

Outside of the office Kakashi suggested to Naruto and Rei that they should head home after all the excitement of the day. As they were nearing home Rei popped out of existence, apparently the bunshin had run out of chakra.

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Naruto awoke midmorning the next day the sun filtering through the gaps in his curtain and onto his face.

'Sunday, no training.' He thought idly.

'Perhaps I should gather the gang together and introduce Haku to everyone. Rei-san, are you there?'

'_As always Naruto-san.'_

'I was wondering, would you like to meet my friends as well?'

'_You would allow me that?'_

'Shouldn't I? I'll only call you out later when we are nearer to meeting them. It wouldn't be too good if I said you were a civilian to them and then you dispersed as a _kage bunshin_. It'd mean that you either knew the jutsu or that something fishy was going on and I'd rather not have to explain.'

'_Yes, that would be…problematic.'_

After conferring with Rei, Naruto knew what he had to do. First he had to gather his friends and set up with them to meet up with him at some food place. Ichiraku's while his favourite place to eat only served ramen. He'd have to think about a different place to eat for once.

'That barbeque place that Chouji and Shikamaru eat at would be a better pick. Aniki has taken me there so I know they will serve me as well.' Naruto thought to himself, thinking of a decent restaurant to go to that would still serve him.

With that sorted he decided that the quickest course of action would be to send out _kage bunshin _to look for everyone.

"K_age bunshin no jutsu." _Once 11 bunshins appeared he started giving commands. "Right I want each of you to find one of my other classmates and tell them to meet me at the I Ibuki Kafe."

With that done Naruto set off to the Kunoichi only residence to collect Haku. It was a short trek across town via the rooftops and before long he was waiting outside of Haku's apartment door. While he was there he received snippets of information from his dispelled clones, each one telling him that the others would be there waiting for him at the allotted time.

Haku answered the door and was pleasantly surprised.

"Naruto-san, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well with you being new in town I thought you might like to meet some of my friends."

"That would be pleasant." She smiled warmly and stepped out of her apartment wearing a baby blue t-shirt that cut off shortly after the shoulders, a black skirt that went down to her shins and pair of sandals that had strapping going up to her shins where her skirt finished.

Now that Naruto had organised everything he and Haku decided to make their way to the restaurant at ground level. It was about twelve thirty and if they had travelled by the roof tops they would have been waiting for ages before any one showed up. As they walked they talked, but Haku couldn't help but notice some of the looks that were being sent at Naruto. While a great many just chose to look straight through him there was an equal amount that seemed to mutter dark things under their breath and send vicious looks his way.

"Why do you…how do you tolerate such treatment from your own village?"

Naruto looked at her and then had a brainwave.

"I can answer that, but not right here." Immediately he took to the roof tops and waited for Haku to follow suit. From hear he made his way to the training grounds with Haku in hot pursuit. Once they had reached one that was on the outskirts of the main part of village he stopped. Thankfully it was empty.

"Now I tolerate it because of what is sealed inside me. I want to change that opinion. Every time they look at me all they see is the image of the Kyuubi and hate me for it."

She was looking at him expectantly. The way he had finished his sentence told her that there was he had to say.

"What I'm about to do stay strictly between you and me. The only other people that know about this are the Hokage and Kakashi."

"I understand." Was the only reply she gave.

"Well, as I said, they only see me as they Kyuubi, but even their image of her is incorrect. I have been talking with her for a few months now. She is actually a very kind…soul." Naruto finished, almost unsure how to classify Rei.

"Once again you are trusting me with a lot. Why?"

"Well the first time was to repay your trust in me for telling me your secret. This time it is because you did not break my trust when I told you mine. In any case the reason I brought you here is because I want you to meet Rei-san."

'_Naruto-san are you sure this is a good idea?" _ She never received a response, the next thing that she knew she was in the clearing with Haku and Naruto.

After introducing Rei to Haku and then doing the inverse there was an awkward silence between the trio before Rei started to talk.

"Haku-san, I would like to thank you for your actions in wave."

"I'm not sure I follow your meaning Rei-san."

"After you knocked Naruto-san out in your fight he came and visited me in the seal. From that point on I haven't been lonely. I wanted to thank you for this."

Haku was taken aback by Rei's politeness. From what she understood demons were supposed to b vicious and vile creatures; Rei went against that with the way she was currently acting. Wanting to keep the meeting friendly she bowed, only saying that it was of no trouble to her.

"Well now that this is out of the way, perhaps we should get to the restaurant. Everyone else will be waiting for us by now."

The henge was put on Rei, the purposes explained to Haku and then the three set off for the I Ibuki Kafe.

True to his words everyone was waiting for them. All twelve were waiting in an outdoor section of the restaurant; they had gathered some tables and put them together to make one large table as the restaurant didn't normally accommodate such a large group without a prior booking.

There were three empty seats between Hinata and Kiba. Naruto helped Haku and Rei to their places before seating himself between Rei and Kiba, leaving Haku to sit next to Hinata. Sai was the first to address Naruto.

"We have already ordered as we weren't sure how long you were going to be. You can order when the waitress comes out next." He informed the new arrivals while handing over a menu.

"So what did everybody else order? I'm having spare ribs and salad." It was Misao; her simple question had ignited a massive to and fro about who was having what, what sounded better and discussion of sharing dishes. In all the chaos of the conversation Kiba managed to whisper into Naruto's ear.

"How in the hell did you get girls like that to come to this with you of all people?" He had a bewildered look on his face as he asked.

"Ease up turbo. Haku-san came back with us from our mission in wave and Rei is a childhood friend."

Kiba simply nodded slowly as he regarded the girls with interest. Naruto, realising his rudeness as well as remembering the reason he brought the girls here, called for everyone's attention.

"Allow me to introduce my friends. Haku-san, Rei-san, this is the gang." He went around starting with Hinata and moving clockwise as he introduced each person in the group. As each person was announced they each made a small wave to say 'hi' and to acknowledge their name as it was called out.

Several waitresses had come out and were bringing the food that the group had ordered. Naruto, Rei and Haku took this chance to place an order with them.

"Would you like us to wait?" Hinata offered.

Haku simply shook her head and said "By the time our food is ready yours will be cold."

Naruto took this chance to tell everyone about the A ranked mission team seven had been sent on. Their friends made for a good audience, sometimes completely abandoning their food in rapture. It was also different having Haku retell the story with her perspective added in as well.

By the end of the story the food ordered by Rei, Naruto and Haku came out.

"Man, that was quick." Ami commented

"Probably because the order was far smaller than our own that it was pushed to the front and it took less time." Shino thought out aloud.

While the three made short work of their food, the others had the decency to not just stare as they ate and continued in small conversation.

One they had finished eating they joined into the random conversations. Haku was talking with Hinata; both girls seemed to like making remedies for injuries out of herbs. Rei was listening into all the different conversations when Kiba snickered at Naruto.

"So…you got your butt handed to you by Haku did you? Maybe you're losing your skills."

Unfortunately for Kiba, Sakura had overheard the ribbing and got a devious smile about her face.

"So, Kiba, are you telling us that a girl can't beat a guy in a fight?"

"I…er…well…that is…" Kiba was stumbling over himself, realising what he had gotten himself into. Ino, realising where Sakura was going, started to join in.

"So Kiba, if that really is the case then you wouldn't mind taking Kurenai-sensei on in a proper match would you?"

His pupils dilated, realising what they were talking about. Ami had now joined in on the fun.

"Of course that would require us to explain to Kurenai-sensei why we organised a nothing barred match. I'm not sure how she would react if we told her what you just said.

Kiba blanched, evidently he knew exactly how she would react if they told her any of this.

"You wouldn't." While it was mean to be a statement it sounded more like a question…or should that be a plead.

Misao had the clincher.

"We won't…provided you pay for the girls' meals today." She said with a devious smile on her face.

"But…but…that's unfa…"

"Think about the alternative Kiba." Hinata reminded him

It was as though everybody could see his mind ticking…very slowly.

"Alright…fine…but remember, you promised."

The girls all looked quite happy at not having to pay or their meals while the boys just sweat dropped and shook their heads. Shikamaru could be heard muttering "troublesome" while Sai was talking to Shino about their capabilities as a torture and interrogation unit.

It soon was noted by Misao that it was getting later into the afternoon and she had to head home to prepare for training the next day; it was Monday which meant taijutsu training with Gai. Any one that decided to attend one of his sessions while not fully rested was nothing short of suicidal.

With that in mind the group slowly started to break up and head home.

Naruto walked with Rei and Haku to Haku's apartment block.

"Your friends are an…interesting bunch. I'm glad I got to meet them. I enjoyed myself." She said to Naruto before turning to Rei. "Please it was a pleasure meeting you, Rei-san. Perhaps we can meet again in the fut…." She was interrupted by Rei dispersing.

'_Naruto-san, please apologise to Haku-san. I must have run out of chakra. It seems that 6-7 hours is how long the bunshins last.'_

"Rei-san says sorry for dispelling before you finished." Naruto conveyed the message.

"It is quite understandable. In any case have a good night Naruto-san."

Naruto nodded and wished her the same before heading home to sleep.

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Naruto woke the next morning at twenty nine past four, a minute before his alarm went off. Apparently his hate for the thing was so strong that his body had learned to wake up that extra little bit early to disarm it so he wouldn't have to hear it. After he had disarmed his alarm he set about dressing in his usual orange jumpsuit that he wore for training as well as missions inside the village, or more specifically, D rank missions.

Once dressed he made his way to the training ground that was used for their taijutsu practice with Gai Maito and his genin team. He got there fifteen minutes early so he started to do some stretches before he was made to kill himself. While he was stretching others rolled up in the fifteen minutes and started to stretch with him. Gai and lee appeared out of nowhere and started talking at full volume, apparently they had already been on a morning 'jog' and were about to join the rest of the group.

"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI, IT APPEARS THAT THE REST OF OUR YOUTHFUL COMRADES HAVE ARRIVED!"

The rest of the group not so inwardly groaned; even Neji and Tenten, their teammates did not like having perforated eardrums at five in the morning. Gai who wasn't as bad as his student for yelling things at the top of his lungs reduced his volume to slightly under a commanding boom.

"Well, then, seeing as we are all here we will go on a jog to warm up before settling into form practice and spars.

The warm up consisted of 20 laps around Konoha. Once complete they separated into pair and started sparing. Only 2 matches were running at any given time. This way Gai could intervene and also give pointer when necessary. This morning Naruto was paired against Sai. He settled into the clockwise spin stance used forReikoku Ken-ryuu, he was counting on Sai using his right hand. This immediately put Gai on alert as he had not seen the style in some years.

Sai unsure of what Naruto was aiming to do was wary, when he realised that Naruto wasn't going to move he shot forwards, the whole time keeping his guard up. He launched a straight out left jab. Naruto, realising he was in the wrong stance to rotate and counter attack properly rotated anti-clockwise dodging the initial blow. Sai followed up the jab with a crescent kick from his back foot which was ducked under by Naruto, still maintaining his roatation, as he tried to sweep Sai's supporting leg from underneath him. It had worked and the point went to Naruto for disabling his opponent.

The pair reset their positions, this time Naruto was aware that Sai would be a lot more cautious about he attacked. They were given the signal to begin and Naruto rushed in, using virtually the same opening as Sai, only with his right hand. Sai deftly patted the fist to his left; exactly what Naruto wanted. As his hand went left he spun the rest of his body and tried to land a right elbow to Sai's head. Sai, quickly moving his head out of the way went back in for a counter only to find that Naruto's arm had extended from its strike as an elbow to an extended arm ready to back fist him. He had to duck at the very last second, leaving him in a position that lent itself to neither offence nor defence, so when the follow up roundhouse kick aimed at where his midsection would normally be, but due to the duck it was in line with his shoulder, jarring it on impact.

"That's enough you to. Time for another pair." Gai's voice rang out across the training field as Hinata and Sasuke went up to spar.

While there were only two matches running at a time the rest were not simply watching and sitting down. They were completing exercises ranging from squats and push ups to beating up on a wooden post in the ground. At no point was there any true rest though this session.

As Sai and Naruto were walking away Sai decided to satisfy his curiosity.

"So where did the new style come from?"

"It's actually from…" he was interrupted as an ANBU black ops agent wearing an ox mask poofed into the training field.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you have been summoned by the Hokage once this is completed.

'Dammit, couldn't he have summoned me now instead of making me answer Sai?'

'_If this is about Jiraiya arriving then that certainly was fast. I expected him to be a week or so not a mere three days.'_

'The sooner the better. I really want to know about the dragon's sword style and I have a few questions to ask as well.'

"Naruto." Sai called again, this time waving a hand in front of his face to try and get Naruto out of his dream world.

"Oh…right. Sorry Sai."

"So where did that new style come from."

"Oh, it's from my mother's family. Apparently she left me a scroll and I just received it recently." While Naruto had tried to sound happy there was still a bitter edge to his words. No matter how much he may want to it was just too early for him to forgive the Hokage.

Perhaps it was because Sai's curiosity was sated or perhaps he could sense the bitterness in Naruto's words that cause the subject to be dropped almost immediately. The two boys continues with their exercises doing five cycles of 200 push ups, sit up, squats and chin ups.

By the end of the morning most of the group felt that death would have been a merciful release. Fortunately most could laze around for the rest of the day and try to recover for the next day or whatever else they had planned for later on. Naruto was one of the unlucky few that was required to be somewhere immediately afterwards. While his body protested at every movement he practically dragged himself to the Hokage's office.

Upon arrival at the Hokage's office door Naruto simply barged in, not bothering to check with the secretary or to knock. No matter what training undertaken and what improvements made, there were some things that were apparently far to ingrained from his younger days to change.

It was fortunate that the Hokage was only expecting Naruto that day so when Naruto did barge in he wasn't in the middle of anything important; only battling his worst enemy since the great ninja wars – paper work. When he saw Naruto enter unannounced he was happy for the distraction.

"ANBU get Jiraiya." While there nothing detectable happened, there was little doubt that the order would be acted upon.

"I thought you said that it might take a while for Jiraiya to get here."

"I said I wasn't sure how long it would take him." Sarutobi corrected "Apparently he was nearby investigating some promising information."

There was a poof in the area and a disgruntled looking man with a mane of white hair emerged from the smoke cloud that ensued from a shunshin. At the moment he was sporting particularly large purple bruises on his right cheek and left eye.

"Your ANBU interrupted my in the middle of my research."

"We have more pressing issues to deal with, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya school his features and allowed his sensei to continue.

"Naruto, this is Jiraiya, one of my students and a member of the sannin. He will be taking you to where you need to go. He has been filled in on everything that we discussed the other day."

"What? Why? What gives you the right to tell and him the right to know?" It was more of demand that a question.

"Two reasons actually. First is if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna want to know exactly why. Secondly, I was your father's sensei and he made me your godfather." Jiraiya replied for the Hokage.

"You're my godfather? Where the hell were you all these years?"

"Out of town, the main reason was to maintain my spy network for the council."

"And the other reason?"

"You'll get to know when you're a little older." He said with a slightly lecherous grin about his face.

"In any case, you will be leaving tomorrow morning. You need to be packed for a mission that might last a few weeks."

Naruto nodded before Sarutobi spoke up again.

"Naruto, pack for an A rank mission. That means no bright jumpsuits. Going so close to Iwa's borders is always a dangerous gambit."

Naruto nodded, slightly more aware of how dicey things could get if things took a turn for the worse. The Iwa would never miss such an opportunity to take out Konoha Nin and they would not let one of the sannin slip through their fingers.

"Meet me at the western gate at five am sharp ready to leave." Jiraiya told Naruto before leaving the office by way of shunshin.

Naruto went home to pack. When his older brother got home he sought him out and told him the news.

"Aniki, Jiraiya arrived. We're set to leave tomorrow at five. I was wondering, what are you going to tell the others?"

"The truth." Was the simple reply.

"What? You can't possibly mean…" Naruto started, dumbfound that Kakashi would simply blurt his secret.

"All I have to say is that you are travelling to find some clues about your family. They will just have to accept that and if they want to know anything more then they will have to ask you themselves."

Naruto nodded, heading off to finish his packing.

Once he was done he found himself double checking everything.

'Kunai, shuriken, spare clothes, food, and tent. Anything else?' He asked to himself more than anyone else.

'_Perhaps you should tell Haku. Your teammates will get told by Kakashi at the team meeting tomorrow, though I'm not sure if anyone will think to tell her. Sakura may work with her but she will likely forget to pass the message on in the midst of her duties at the hospital.'_

'You're right. And with Haku not working with me on a regular basis she wouldn't even know that I was missing and wouldn't ask.'

With his mind set Naruto went out to find Haku and tell her what was going on in case she was left out of the loop by the others, even if it was accidental.

A short while later he found himself in front of her door for the second time in two days. He knocked and waited patiently for her to answer. She answered wearing the pink kimono that she wore when she first met him.

"Oh, Naruto-san, are we meeting your friends again today?" Haku greeted.

"Sorry Haku-san, not today. What I came here for was just to tell you that I would be out of town for a while. All my friends will find out tomorrow when I'm not present for training, but I'm not sure if anyone would have told you.'

She smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Well it seems like a wonderful afternoon. Would you care to take a stroll around the village with me? I haven't really seen too much besides the hospital, the Hokage tower and that restaurant from yesterday."

Naruto smiled at the invitation and stepped aside so that she could step out of the apartment. Instead of stepping out she stepped back in, beckoning Naruto to follow her. Once he crossed the threshold she closed the door behind him. Seeing the slightly confused look on Naruto's face she explained.

"While I'm thinking about it get Rei-san to come out and the three of us can go. A look of understanding came across his face before he grinned and uttered the jutsu name.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu."_

Rei appeared in the hallway of Haku's apartment. They put her under the usual henge before heading out.

The trio made their way through the village looking at each of the different stalls that dotted the pathway they were walking.

Naruto then took them to see some of the places he thought they might enjoy. The first stop was to the local flower shop. It was the shop owned by the Yamanaka. As they walked in they were greeted by a voice.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Florists. Oh it's you Naruto-san. What brings you here?"

"Haku-san said she wanted to see more of the village than just the Hokage tower, the hospital and the I Ibuki Kafe, so Rei and I are taking her on a tour of the better places in the village." Haku and Rei merely wave at the mention of their names.

Ino just beamed at his words. Shino decided to wander up to the group and join the conversation.

"Whoa, Shino-san? I would have ever expected to find you in a place like this."

"The Yamanaka-sama and Ino-san grow the plants that we Aburame use to make the hives for our kikai bugs." Shino said as he indicated two men talking. One was dresses similarly to Shino himself, with a large white coat and glasses to hide his eyes. The other had long hair in a pony tail, black shinobi pants, a black long sleeved shirt, green jounin vest and red vest slightly covering it.

The two girls were looking between the different flowers, smelling each of their different scents before moving onto the next.

"Well, we can't stay for too long. There is actually a lot to see when you know what you are looking for."

He moved to the door and held it open for Rei and Haku before walking out himself after saying his goodbyes to both Shino and Ino.

The moved their way through the bustling city, eventually finding themselves at Konoha's ninja academy. Naruto walked them through the buildings and practice grounds for the genin hopefuls. Eventually running into Iruka, one of Naruto's academy instructors.

"Naruto, what brings you here?"

"Just showing Haku-san and Rei-san the sites of the city. This is a pretty important place for me. Well, for any person that has become a ninja. So I'd thought I'd share."

Iruka's eye crinkled with a smile that was so similar to that of his older brother, Kakashi.

"Rei-san, Haku-san this is Iruka-sensei, one of my academy instructors."

"So are you two keeping Naruto out of trouble and away from his prankster ways?"

"You used to be a prankster, Naruto-san?" Haku asked with a slightly amused air about her voice.

"Perhaps stories for another time?" Naruto evaded sightly

Haku simply grinned before turning to Iruka.

"Well, seeing as Naruto is going to be out of town for a while we might meet up and then you can tell me all about his prankster ways."

Naruto just groaned before moving onwards. It was getting later in the evening so this would likely be the last place that they would visit before heading home.

The girls were told that it was a way to walk before they got to the last sight that Naruto wanted to see, but when they were walking for nearly thirty minutes through thick forest on a sharp incline they were starting to wonder just where they were heading.

Just as Haku was about to ask how much farther there was to go Naruto suddenly announced that they had arrived at their destination. It took a little while for them to understand what he was talking about until they joined him just outside of the thick forestry.

What they saw took their breath away. They were standing on top of the Hokage monument looking out at the village basking in the glow of the setting sun; a truly magnificent site.

"This place…this is where I come to think, or to just be alone. It's so peaceful, even more so than training ground 44." When he finished a comfortable silence lapsed between the three as they simply enjoyed the sight before them.

Before long it was dark and the sun had completely set. He chose to show them the quick way down; running with chakra sent to the soles of their feet to stick to the face of the cliff. Without even realising it they were standing in front of Haku's door when she turned to say her goodbyes. She turned to Rei first in case she dispelled.

"Rei-san, it was good spending the day with you and Naruto-san."

"I agree. Perhaps we can do this again when…"

'_Naruto gets back. That is incredibly annoying'_

"Would you like to be resummoned?'

'N_o just pass on the rest of the message. Thank you.'_

"Rei-san said that she would like to spend the day with you again some other time."

"Good luck with your trip and have a safe journey." She said with a slight bow.

"Thank you and I'll see you when I get back." He responded with a slight inclination of his head.

With his goodbyes said he departed set for his house at top speed to rest for the next day of travelling.

Before he could get to his room he heard Kakashi's voice.

"So did you enjoy yourself?" there was a slight giggle behind his words.

Naruto knowing exactly where this was leading nipped in the bud.

"I was just showing some friends around before I left. Nothing wrong with that is there?"

"Nothing at all. I'm just surprised you aren't addressing them as Haku-_chan_ and Rei-_chan."_

"Whatever, like I said, were just friends." He groused before heading to bed.

While he was lying there he heard Rei's voice.

'_I wouldn't mind you know.'_

'Mind what.' Naruto asked, completely thrown for a loop.

'_If you addressed me as Rei-chan instead of Rei-san.'_

'You wouldn't?'

'_Face it Naruto-san, were gonna be around for a_ very _long time. May as well get familiar with each other._'

She said nothing more on the matter and left Naruto to mull it over in his head while trying to get to sleep.

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He woke that extra minute early as his body was so used to, just to avoid hearing that infernal alarm going off. He got dressed silently, expecting Kakashi to already be heading to the training grounds to train the rest for ninjutsu. He was wearing a pair of loose pants that was held up by a belt and a black tank top. The rest of his body was covered with a black trench coat with an orange spiral on the back. He was also wearing black shinobi sandals.

Naruto grabbed the bag that he packed the previous day before heading to the kitchen for a small breakfast. It was simply, only having a few pieces of fruit before heading out to the west gate to meet Jiraiya. He would be considerably early, but that was better than being late.

When he arrived at the gate he was greeted by Gekko Hayate, his sensei in kenjutsu. He had with him a long thin package.

"*cough* Naruto, I heard that you found some information concerning your family and*cough cough* that you were going to find out more about them. He also mentioned that your family has their own style of swordsmanship. I thought it only fitting that I give you this now as your current sensei, before you find a new one in your new style *cough*." His speech interjected by his usual cough due to failing health.

He handed Naruto the package who took it from his grasp so gently you'd have thought that it was made out of glass. The sheath was plain black with a golden dragon ornament adorning its length about a quarter the way down the entire sheath. The dragon's mouth was open where the sword came out of the sheath, giving the impression that the dragon had swallowed the sword.

When he drew the sword it seemed to hum in his hand. Looking at Hayate he received an explanation.

"You have wind natured chakra as well as a high affinity for fire. That sword was tempered with a special steel *cough* that allows chakra flow to the blade. *cough cough* You can extend some of your wind chakra to it to make it even sharper and slightly longer, this will take practice of course."

Naruto looked amazed, not having anything to say Hayate continued.

"You can also heat it up to a degree." He grinned "Gives an entirely new meaning to 'a hot knife through butter' *cough*."

Upon closer inspection the blade bore the kanji for 'Carve your own path'

Noticing that he had found the inscription Hayate explained.

"*cough* Those were the words my sensei said to me as he passed on my first sword. You now have a sword, how you choose to *cough* wield it and for what purpose are up to you. *cough cough cough*"

Naruto nodded and bowed giving a solemn thanks and a vow inside his own heart not to betray his sensei's teaching.

He was itching to try the sword out but just at that moment Jiraiya had arrived and told him that if he was ready they would leave immediately. Jiraiya gave a short nod to Hayate as a greeting before setting out of the village with Naruto in tow.

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Jiraiya and Naruto had been on the road for a few hours now; there had been little conversation until Naruto asked a question.

"Jiraiya-sama, what were my parents like."

Jiraiya stopped and turned to face Naruto. He had been briefed on everything that the Hokage knew Naruto knew, so it shouldn't have been so surprising when asked.

"Your mother, she was a beautiful woman. She had long red flowing hair and her face was that of an angel. I think the thing that I will remember the most about her is her sense of humour. She was always the one to try and make everyone else laugh, she tried hard in everything that she did and stood up for what she believed in."

Jiraiya took a second to compose himself before continuing.

"Your father was a great man. Not only because of his accomplishments on the battlefield, but in everyday life. He strived to find a solution that suited everybody, he was selfless and he was compassionate. Above all he was fiercely loyal to his village, his friends and his family. While he may have been a compassionate man anything threatened them was taken down mercilessly in the name of preserving what he held dear. I never had kids, but I grew to see him as my own son."

Naruto remained silent thinking about what he had just heard. His parent sounded like nice people.

'_I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry.'_

"Rei-chan, I've already told you that I don't hold you responsible.' Naruto consoled.

'_I know you don't but I still can't help but feel guilty.'_

"Would you like to learn a technique that your father used in his days?" Jiraiya's voice broke into his thoughts.

"What kind of technique." Jiraiya stopped for a second bit his thumb, drawing blood before going through five hand signs and slamming his hand on the ground. Naruto recognised the summoning jutsu and looked at what happened.

"The toad contract. Sign this in your blood and you'll be able to summon toads to your aid in battle."

"I've been meaning to ask someone about that. If I sign a contract then I can summon from the clan that I have a contract with any they'll just obey me?"

"Well the obey part is up for debate. The summons boss might not recognise you f it does not feel you are worthy."

"How will you know?" Naruto asked, wondering if it would benefit him to sign the phoenix clan's summoning contract.

"You just gotta take that risk."

Naruto took out the summoning scroll that he had kept with him and bit his thumb so it would bleed and signed the contract.

"Dog, boar, monkey, bird, ram. _Kuchiyose no jutsu." _Hecalled out the hand signs as he performed them before slamming his hand on the ground as Jiraiya had done.

There was a puff of smoke; when it had cleared Jiraiya was surprise to see a phoenix standing right in front of him. The small bird was a brilliant gold and red colour. It came as a true shock to Naruto when it spoke.

"A new summoner I presume. My name is Shinme Mochi. I'm of the phoenix clan as you may have guessed. I am a messenger."

"Shinme-san, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Is there anything you require of me or should I dispel and tell Tobifushicho-sama of our new contract."

"He will accept me?" Jiraiya's words still playing in his mind.

"You are of the phoenix clan so there is no reason that he should not."

"Good, then no, you may you as you please."

"Very well then, but before I leave I should impart some advice. Using the 'san' suffix with me and many others is fine, though you should note that there will be some that insists upon the suffix 'sama'. This if for no reason other than respect for the dead."

Understanding lit Naruto's eyes as he thought about how the contract worked.

"Your safest bet is to always use the 'sama' suffix and the summoned will tell you that a more casual suffix is acceptable."

His knowledge imparted he dispelled.

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**Chapter End**

Well to those wondering I Ibuki Kafe roughly translates to Hog's Breath Cafe. This is the name of an actual BBQ restaurant chain in Australia. Not sure if you have them elsewhere, tell me if you do.

It had just occurred to me that I hadn't put up translations for certain names or reasoning behind them (or if I have then I've forgotten).

Rei Kagirinai –companion eternal; arranged in the way of a traditional Japanese name it would read 'Kagirinai Rei' or 'eternal companion'

Mizuki Bakamono – Bakamono translates to 'stupid person' so a slight bit of character bashing in that.

Taro Momo – Taro is a name given to the first born boy in a family. When this name is arranged as it should be 'Momo Taro' it actually means 'peach boy' and was a reference to the Japanese legends about the boy who grew out of a peach and travelled to defeat ogres with his companions a dog, a pheasant and a monkey.

Shinme Mochi –translates to 'shoot do not' or arranged as a traditional name Mochi Shinme 'do not shoot' a slight pun seeing as he is a messenger.

Tobifushicho – Fushicho is a way of saying phoenix. I can't remember the significance of 'tobi'. Perhaps it was the name of a legendary phoenix in Japanese mythology. Found it and I'm too lazy to erase the previous. 'Tobi Ho-ou' means 'flying phoenix'. I was unwilling to use ho-ou as it is a kick back to Pokémon (not that I don't like the stuff) and it didn't sit well as an actual name, so I change the word used for phoenix.

Thanks to those who wished me well for my competition. Just so you know, I actually did quite well; I ranked top 10 in two events and took out the gold medal in a third.

The next chapter may take a while to get out (about a week or two). My computer room is generally the hottest in the house and the temperature here in Adelaide has been 42°- 44° Celsius for three days straight and is set to be that way for a little over a week. For those operating in Fahrenheit that's 107.6° - 111.2° Fahrenheit. So you can understand my reluctance to sit in an un-air-conditioned room warmer than that.

For those having trouble picturing Naruto's get up for when he leaves, just think of Dark from DNAngel, minus the strapping on his trench coat and an orange spiral on his back.

Remember only reason really to review this time is if you wanna see the stuff ups I made that Narilyte was kind enough to point out.


	8. Chapter 8

The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 7

Not too much to say, only thanks to those that reviewed and thanks to everyone that is still reading at this point.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Naruto and Jiraiya had been travelling west for the past three days. They were now just inside the border of Kaze no Kuni. It generally took several days to reach the country's hidden ninja village, Sunagakure, though as they were not in any desperate rush they could travel at a far more sedate pace, rather than going at top speed to their destination. They could also take a little longer with their rest stops at night. It was during these stops that Naruto practiced his summoning, trying to summon out the higher tier summons.

The closest Naruto had gotten thus far to summoning Tobifushicho was to summon a large phoenix; it had more gold than red and had a single black plume on its forehead. Apparently the colour of the phoenix denoted some sort of ranking system. The redder the phoenix was, the younger it was at the time of death. The older the phoenix the more gold it got. Only the truly ancient phoenixes attained black feathers, having a size increase to match. The phoenix that Naruto had summoned was twice the size of an elephant and yet it seemed as though Tobifushicho was _far_ larger than that.

Rei had also been enjoying herself for the most part. When Naruto had first called her out it was also the first time that Jiraiya had seen her so when he did he turned into a large hairy pile of goo. That was something that was going to irk Naruto and Rei for quite some time.

_FLASHBACK_

"Kage bunshin no jutsu."

"_What the hell do you think you're doing this…"_

_For a short second after Rei was brought out of the seal Jiraiya was stunned by her beauty._

'_Whoa! She's hot!' Jiraiya thought excitedly._

"_Jiraiya-sama, this is Rei-san. Rei-san this is Jiraiya-sama, a member of the sannin." Naruto introduced._

_Jiraiya had out a little note book and was scribbling away. Not sure of what he was doing Naruto simply asked. Upon not receiving a reply he looked at what Jiraiya was writing._

"_What the hell? Why are you taking such a detailed description of Rei-san down?"_

_Rei blushed at Naruto's sudden outburst. Jiraiya ignored him and simply started framing her in his hands before talking about her screen potential, whatever that was. He then proceeded to whip out a measuring tape, but before he could get very far Naruto had conked him quite hard on the head, sending him face first into the dirt._

"_Now what are you planning to do with all this."_

_In response Jiraiya said that she could be a character in his newest edition of Icha Icha. Naruto immediately recognised the book as the one his brother had tried and failed to quit reading, apparently he just couldn't kick some old habits._

""_You're just a pervert! I wonder what would happen if I used…" Naruto trailed off._

"_Henge!" Naruto cried out, transforming into the form of a girl with pigtails and the smoke of the transformation jutsu covering nothing but the most intimate parts._

_Jiraiya went into his dream world; an absolutely gorgeous red head standing in front of him along side and equally beautiful NAKED blond, he started drooling as he fantasised._

"_You really are just a little pervert!" Naruto all but screamed with an accusing finger pointed._

"_I'm not a little pervert!" Jiraiya responded indignantly._

"_Oh really? And what are you then?" Naruto enquired rather sceptically._

"_I'm a big one." Naruto was at a loss for words, he couldn't very well insult a man about his perverted ways when he said it himself with something akin to a hint of pride in his voice._

_Feeling somewhat defeated Naruto uttered only one more word._

"_Ero-sennin." _

_FLASHBACK END_

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In Konoha Naruto's friends had been told of Naruto's absence when they asked and were wishing him the best. It had now been four days since his sudden departure and they were working on chakra exercises. This was one of the times when they were allowed to talk more casually while training. At first they were taught to focus solely on the exercise, but as they grew more and more familiar with the exercises they brought in distractions. After all, while in battle they simply couldn't say to the enemy 'stop attacking, I can't focus my chakra'.

The current topic of conversation was Naruto and his trip, where he was heading and how long it would last. Ino used this as grounds to ask a question that had been on her mind for a few days now, since their visit to the I Ibuki Kafe.

"Has anyone noticed Naruto acting different lately?"

The group remained silent for a time before Hinata answered.

"Perhaps you mean about the way he is reacting to finding out he may have family, or at least a family history?"

"No, not that. It's more when he is around Rei-san or Haku-san." Ino redefined.

"I had noticed that he was slightly out of character as well. Particularly with our encounter in your flower shop." Shino contributed, while Ino was nodding in assent.

"What are you guys talking about?" Misao asked completely confused.

"He took Haku-san on a tour of the village and stopped by my family's flower shop. It's just that every time he is with them he seems so much…calmer and even a little more polite."

"Now that you mention it, when we went for barbeque he made sure they had a seat and had ordered before he did." Ami added her thoughts to the pile.

"And when in the flower shop, he showed another act of courtesy by holding the door for the two girls, rather than simply rushing through and allowing them to follow in his wake." Shino said.

"Don't you guys think that you are over thinking things slightly with this? Is it possible that the manners Kakashi-sensei tried to force into his head is finally taking effect." Sai tried to reason with them.

Sakura and Sasuke could understand what Ino was angling at and Sakura added some fat to the fire.

"I wouldn't say that, Sai. After Naruto recovered in wave we all greeted him once he had regained consciousness. I hugged him grateful for him being alive. Haku on the other hand, slapped him, she slapped him _hard. _Then said something about someone understanding her pain, leaving her, then she kissed him on the cheek she slapped for coming back to her."

"She said she had kissed him for coming back to _us_." Sasuke corrected, with extra emphasis on the 'us', trying to prevent Sakura from making too much out of it.

"She had to correct herself Sasuke. She said 'me', but changed it to 'us' after she realised what she had said."

"Understand her pain? What was that about?" Kiba asked.

"I've asked both Naruto and Kakashi. Naruto said it wasn't all that important that I knew ad Kakashi said that it was for Naruto alone to tell me."

"Naruto has had Kakashi all his life. What could he have had to endure? Perhaps if we asked Haku we might get a better understanding." Chouji mentioned.

"What has Naruto had to endure? Have any of you ever noticed how some of the villagers stare at him? The look they reserve for him is only one that I would use on my worst enemy. I don't know if the two are related, but it can't be for all the pranks he's pulled. Those stares are just too vicious." Shikamaru replied to his long time friend's question.

"Nobody knows Haku well enough to simply ask her about her history. It may be a rather personal question."

The group nodded their agreement; with nothing further to say on the matter the chakra exercises were resumed in near silence.

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Elsewhere in Konoha a pleasant giggle could be heard accompanying the somewhat heartier chortle a man that was evidently talking with a girl.

"You mean he actually painted the Hokage monuments?" The girl managed to ask after recovering from fit of giggles.

"Yes, that was one of the more memorable pranks he pulled. It was the last he did before becoming a ninja." Iruka replied, sighing slightly as he reminisced.

"Your ramen is ready." Ayame, the waitress at Ichiraku's ramen stand said as she set down their steaming bowls of miso ramen in front of them.

They continued to talk as they slowly ate their ramen.

"Naruto and his friends, they certainly are close." Haku thought of his friends as they thought about the blonde jinchuuriki.

"Yes, well they are now." Iruka replied, thinking back to how things used to be so many years ago.

Haku gave a slight tilt of her head to show her confusion, Iruka noticed and explained.

"Well years ago not all of them were friends. It started out as Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji being friends and becoming friends with Kiba at some point. Ino was friends by association through their parents. She was more friendly with Sakura. Sakura was picked on as a child; the only person that anybody picked on more was Naruto." Iruka paused to see if she was still following before continuing.

"At some point Sakura stopped picking on Naruto. This worked in Ino's favour; imagine being that young and having to pick between the boys who were already friends and the only girl that could be a real friend."

Seeing Haku nod he continued on with the group's background.

"Then you have Sasuke, Shino and Hinata. Hinata and Sasuke are from prestigious clans and would have been actively encouraged to avoid the group, particularly Naruto. It was difficult for them; both had high expectations thrust upon them by their families and the village. So they were in away always on their own."

He gathered a breath before continuing.

"Shino is from the Aburame clan, not the most social of the Konoha clans. Well these three recluses joined the group after the Uchiha clan massacre. One of their own clan members killed a great many of their number, including his own parents. After that Sasuke seemed to change. He had a higher drive to work. He was top of the class already, but he just seemed to be pulling ahead from the rest of his class more so than before. When his class saw the extra effort they started lifting their game; no one wanted to get left behind. First the boys picked up their act; I can only assume that this is how Shino got involved in the group. Then the girls of the group lifted not wanting to get left behind by the boys and Hinata didn't want to get left behind by the girls and that is how she got into the group. Over the remaining years, three others joined; Misao, Sai and Ami. I guess it was because they set their priorities straight, you know the saying; birds of a feather flock together."

Iruka was getting tired of talking by now, but he decided to finish with one little bit.

"They seem to run like a well oiled machine, but occasionally there are cracks that appear within the group. Ami was one of the one's that used to tease Sakura the most and Sakura teased Naruto rather cruelly when he was the focus. It makes for some awkward moments now and then, either from guilt on one part, or an incomplete trust and insecurities on the other's part."

"That's rather interesting. I thought that they had all just been good friends from the start." Haku mused out loud.

"Heh, hardly. In some cases you would have been forgiven for thinking that they were mortal enemies. Though with the way they work together these days I can understand where you are coming from. With the way they're improving as a unit I can see them cementing a place in our history books one day." Iruka chortled, idly hoping that he might get some reflected glory for being their final year academy teacher if they remembered him years from now.

Haku smiled slightly before turning back to her ramen. Once the food was finished the pair said their goodbyes and parted ways.

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It was now the seventh day of travelling for Naruto and Jiraiya. They were now in the mountain range dividing Iwa no Kuni from Kaze no Kuni. Any absolutely unnecessary chakra usage was expressly forbidden by Jiraiya. It had been a true wake up call for Naruto after that conversation.

_FLASHBACK_

"_What? Why not? Why can't I practice summoning or summon Rei-san?"_

"_Because using chakra enough to summon will no doubt attract unwanted attention and moving in a number larger than absolutely necessary is foolish."_

"_But you're a sannin, surely you could be able to take any opponent, even if they were ANBU." Naruto almost whined back._

"_I am but you are not. While I'm battling I can't protect your hide as well."_

"_Err…I'm immortal remember?'_

"_Moron! When they discover that you are immortal they won't try and kill you, they will try and capture you. Think about that; their interrogators will simply torture you till you die, then start the process over and over. Worse yet, what if they try and use you for breeding stock, to create warriors for their country, for use against fire country? Then your own powers would be used to destroy the village you love."Jiraiya growled back._

"_I…I never thought of that."_

"_You're a ninja, you must think of the worst case. Not planning out your moves could prove to be fatal to you, or more importantly in your case your comrades. Not thinking things through could be disastrous for you village."_

_Naruto nodded as they continued on their path, having been given a lot to think about._

_FLASHBACK END_

"Naruto look!" Jiraiya's voice broke him out of his reverie.

He cast his gaze to where Jiraiya was pointing; there was a cave in the mountain side. It was well hidden from view and anyone no looking too closely would have missed it entirely. After a day and a half of searching through the rugged terrain it was the slightest hint of a break through. The cave was on a completely different mountainside to the one they were on. After choosing the most appropriate route getting there they entered the cave.

What they saw inside amazed them, instead of narrowing down like one would expect, the cave opened out into a large circular room of sorts with ten or so pathways each seeming to lead deeper into the mountain.

"Well isn't this something? I was only expecting to find a place to stay for the night while we picked up our search tomorrow." Jiraiya said as he looked about.

"So which way from here?"

"We rest and let some clones do some exploring. It'd be stupid if we got lost and died here."

Naruto snickered.

"It's not that funny, even if you _are_ immortal, I get the feeling that you wouldn't do too much without food and water."

Naruto paled slightly and nodded.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu." _Naruto uttered and summoning twenty clones into the open area of the cave. "Well, get to it; start seeing if there is anything worth seeing here." He gave his orders and they all rushed off to do his bidding.

"Why twenty and not ten?"

"In case the caves branch of further." Jiraiya was suitably impressed. The boy was noted for being an idiot when it came to written tests, but when it came to practicalities he seemed just as good as any of the so called geniuses. I t made him wonder if these 'geniuses' were actually all that good or if it was something that those around them had blown out of proportion.

As he and Jiraiya sat talking they were surprised when two clones burst into the circular room from different entrances.

"Which entrance did you guys go in?" The bunshin each pointed to the exit that the other had walked out of. Naruto shook his head only to receive a sudden burst of information from two of the dispelled clones. It was the partner of each of the clones present. On had dispelled of its own will after finding a dead end, the other had met its fate by a long fall that was hidden by the darkness.

The other two clones dispelled seeing as they were no longer needed and Naruto moved to make a pile of rocks or something the like that would distinguish the two entry ways from the rest to note that they were not the correct way. He explained to Jiraiya what was going on.

It was a further 4 hours before Naruto received and more information; then in the time span of what only seemed to be a half an hour was able to rule out several more passages. One had a cave in, another was a second dead end and the last was actually a loop that took you back on the same route over and over. The only reason the pair of clones picked up on it in the dark was that one of them made a gouge in the rock with a wind jutsu. It wasn't long before they walked around and it felt the relief of the spiral shaped mark it had carved into the rock.

With only four remaining passage ways left open to them, it was now a game of hoping that the chakra of the clones didn't run out before they made it through the veritable labyrinth of a mountain.

In the two hours that they were waiting, they manage to eliminate two more entrances, one as it lead to a large open area with a small underground lake that went nowhere and the other subject to another cave in.

It was nearing the end of the six hour maximum that Rei had said was the limit for his clone when he received one more piece of information. Burned into his memory was the image of what seemed to be a several small stone huts; the last thing that the clone saw before dispelling. Naruto also took note of the intense heat that the pathway leads to on the way to these huts. It seemed that this pathway took you far deeper into the earth itself.

"It seems that's the path we need to take." Naruto said to Jiraiya, pointing out a cave to his left.

"We'll get some rest tonight and start some time tomorrow, Jiraiya said as he marked the other entrance as 'incorrect'.

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Fourteen hours later found Naruto and Jiraiya well and truly down the path that they had deemed the correct one. As Naruto remembered from his clone's experience the heat through this passage gradually raised, it was now sweltering; Naruto had sealed his jacket into a scroll, while Jiraiya's shirt was taken off and tucked into his pants leaving only his mesh to cover his upper body.

"Shouldn't be too much longer now." Naruto mentioned to Jiraiya.

As they rounded another bend Naruto came across the sight they had been travelling for the last six hours. There they both saw with their own eyes what the clones had seen the previous night. Three small huts sat, seemingly carved out of stone, sitting in a cavern illuminated by crystals embedded into the wall.

Outside one of these huts sat some small items of pottery as well as a potter's wheel. Instinctively Naruto moved towards this hut, there was something different about it.

"How was it that you managed to find this place?" a voice from within the hut asked.

"I was directed here by my father. He told me that I was from the dragon clan and that if I wanted to know more then I should come here."

"Indeed, you are of the dragon clan. And yet you are not of the dragon clan. There is something about you that seems abnormal. Something that is not…draconian." The voice replied.

"My mother…" Naruto almost whispered "My mother was a of the phoenix clan." Naruto stated in a more steady voice.

"Well that explains everything. And if I'm not mistaken, your travelling partner is human."

"Correct. This is Jiraiya, my godfather. My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki or more accurately, Naruto Namikaze."

"I see. Now, why have you come here?"

"First of all, to receive instruction in the Dragon's sword style, Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu. And…and to ask about the powers of our clan."

"For now I can agree to the sword style instruction. Depending on what you want to know, I may or may not tell you what you want to know. For today you will rest; your training will begin tomorrow."

"Before we go any further, perhaps it would be best if I introduced myself. My name is Seijuro Hiko." The voice had been given a name as a tall man with long black hair walked out of the hut. He wore a white high collared cloak with a red interior and a matching pair of blue pants and shirt. The most outstanding feature of the man was that he was incredibly well built.

Naruto casually noticed a wooden hilted katana held to his waist by a white cloth tied around his body.

The man indicated that the pair should stay in one of the huts that were apparently unoccupied.

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The days that came were tough. Many things had been revealed from both parties. The first question Naruto asked was about how Seijuro could tell that he was not a pure blooded dragon. It came to light that it was just a sense that they came to develop over the years. Naruto had little doubt that this was what had attracted him to Seijuro's hut in the first place, though he couldn't precisely tell what it was, he just knew that something felt different.

It was also from this sense that Seijuro seemed to detect Rei's presence within Naruto. This lead to a lengthy conversation about his father, his mother and the whole incident surrounding his birth. Seijuro seemed indifferent to the news and pressed on with his breakfast.

After breakfast came the training Naruto had been dying for. The session started off with a sparring match between Seijuro and Naruto. Naruto, while not having any true style was not a complete novice with the sword, yet when he versed Hiko, it was as though a wolf had been let into a kennel with a blind new born pup. There was nothing that he could have done

In short order many cuts had appeared all along Naruto's body, each no deeper than a paper cut; a true testament to Hiko's control over his blade. Naruto could not believe that the man had landed so many hits in such a short amount of time; it made his previous sensei, Gekko Hayate look almost like a novice.

"It seems we need to work on your speed above all else." Seijuro said to Naruto as he observed the healing power of the Phoenixes kick in and reseal the cuts that appeared all over his body.

Naruto had been expecting to at least be able to defend against the man. What he encountered was on a whole other level. The rest of the day was spent learning three of the most basic techniques used. The first was _battoujutsu, _sword-drawing techniques, the second was an opening move, _do ryu sen. Do Ryu Sen _relies on the speed of a swing to send earth in the same direction as the swing. A horizontal swing will send large chunks at the enemy, while a vertical swing can leave a fissure in the ground, causing a loss of footing. _Battoujutsu _is a technique that eaves the user open to counter attack if it misses, to counter this, an additional swing is made using the katana's sheath, this move is called s_ou ryu sen._

By the end of the day Naruto had managed to perform the _battoujutsu _and the _sou ryu sen _with the correct motion, all that remained was for him to be able to perform the techniques at a far higher speed in order for them to be effective. The sou ryu sen was not as simple. For a great while there was no visible change to the earth no matter which swing style he used. After swings numbering in the high hundreds he was slowly getting more and more frustrated.

"Sensei, would you mind demonstrating again?" Naruto requested.

Wordlessly, Hiko performed the technique, first a horizontal swing, sending stones between the size of a man's fist and a human head, flying in the direction of his swing. Then he performed the vertical swing leaving a one foot wide fissure for 20 meters ahead of him.

"The ground here is not the same as that on the surface. If you look closely you will see hair line fractures from your vertical slashes and small chips in the ground from your horizontal strikes. The ground is far harder here so it is also far harder to actually rip it asunder." Hiko advised.

Naruto practiced his swings for the next two hours, until pebbles started to get launched or else cracks of little under a centimetre appeared.

"That will do for today." We will at our here.

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It had taken a short while for the meal to be prepared, Naruto and Jiraiya were eating from the stored food that they had packed, Hiko had cook rice with some water, apparently that gathered from the underground lake. The meal was eaten in silence until Naruto decided to try and get an answer the question his parents had tried to find the answer for.

"Seijuro-sensei, when we first met I said that I wanted some information about the clan and you said that you may or may not tell me. Well my father said that the immortality the Dragons poss, as well as the Phoenixes, is granted by the gods. I was wondering, what it was that made the gods decide to bestow such a gift?"

Seijuro look rather contemplative as he tried to think of an answer.

"I won't lie, but I won't tell the truth either, at least not in its entirety. I am not permitted to tell you the exact details."

Naruto looked ready to hear anything. He was completely tuned into what his sensei had to say.

"It was a gift for the clans' beyond spectacular performance in the first ninja war. There are other clans that were also similarly rewarded."

"Spectacular performance in the first ninja war?"

"Correct."

"And one more question, if I'm allowed. How do we have a summoning pact with the Shinigami-sama?"

"Again, I cannot tell you everything, but I will tell what I can. As you know, we are immortal. Well the story starts out with one of the earliest clan leaders losing his wife in the first ninja war. He lived for some time after her death. One day he went to the Hall of the Eight Fathoms, a place where it is possible to speak with the gods. There he made a pact with Shinigami-sama. It is seen was dishonour to commit suicide within our clan, to die a coward's death and run away."

Hiko paused to see if Naruto was still following.

"This man implored Shinigami-sama to reunite his with his beloved, even if it was in death. And so it was done, but the Shinigami-sama is a god that believes in universality, or perhaps it just has a sick sense of humour, in any case the same deal was given to all those in the Dragon clan and it became that when a pair mated, they mated for life, because if one died so would the other. Well any way, as I said, Shinigami-sama is one that believes in universality, death being a good example. So then why should one have a pact with death when nobody else did? And so the reaper summoning was formed, it is not actually a family summon per se as anyone who knows the necessary hand seals and has the sufficient chakra can perform the summoning."

Naruto nodded in mutely understanding before finding a flaw in the explanation.

"That sorta makes sense. The thing is, why would Shinigami-sama apply the summoning to all, but death of your wife or husband to only the Dragon clan?"

"There are things that I have deliberately left out, knowledge that can only be passed on from one clan leader to the next. I must go and prepare a few things for tomorrow morning." With that Hiko bid them farewell and left for his hut.

***********************************************************************************************************

The next morning Naruto was awoken to the sound of a loud clanging by his head. He woke with a start before seeing what appeared to be a pair of bracers, leg guards and some new clothes.

"Wear those when you train. This is to build the speed and strength required for Hiten Mitsurugi. They are made from a special ore found within this mountain range that is naturally quite dense. They have the ability to store chakra, making them even denser. Eventually when the time comes you can withdraw the chakra within them giving you extra chakra and reducing the weight."

Naruto eagerly donned the new gear, understanding the two fold benefit when he was used to them at far higher weight after chakra usage.

The day was spent doing much of the same activities as yesterday, practicing the techniques he had learned as well running with the weights on to improve his speed. By the end of the day he felt exhausted, admittedly not as exhausted as a training set with Gai, but exhausted none-the-less.

The next day Jiraiya approached Seijuro about needing to return home with Naruto,

"Hiko-san, I must advise you that this may well be our last night with you. Our food supplies are running low and Sarutobi-sensei only gave me a limited amount of time for this. I need to be back on the outside shortly as both Naruto and I have responsibilities to attend to."

"Wait…can't I simply stay here and train under Hiko-sensei?"

"No. You have things that you need to do on the outside." While Naruto could not think of a single pressing thing that he had, he knew that Jiraiya most likely would and the tone that Jiraiya was using was one that would brook no argument.

"In that case, I will teach you two more techniques and a variation to go with one of the first. I expect you to practice them all in you free time. This technique is called _ryu tsui sen_. It is not a particularly elaborate move; it simply entails jumping high into the air and slashing down from the opposite shoulder that the sword is wielded from. The variant is simply a stab instead of a slash and it called _ryu tsui sen zan_. The other technique is _ryu kan sen._ This is a counterattack move where you must use the full speed required of Hiten Mitsurugi to sidestep the initial strike and then strike out at the opponent's neck. This move is redundant against enemies that are faster than you are." Hiko said to Naruto, demonstrating each technique as he went along.

The rest of the day was spent practicing these techniques. Naruto could practice the others in his own time back at Konoha and the training with the new equipment was something that he could do practically 24-7 just by wearing the equipment. He needed to learn the actual technique so that he wouldn't practice it incorrectly when on his own.

While Hiko had said that the neither_ ryu tsui sen _nor the _ryu tsui sen zan_ were particularly elaborate, it was still difficult to master as it was difficult to put any real power behind the blade and he was jarring his body as he made the attacks when he connected with his sensei's blade. It wasn't until he was instructed to shift his body weight that things more or less fell into place. He wasn't having any real effect with his strikes against Hiko, but the man was insanely powerful. The main benefit was that he wasn't so shaken up after each strike and he could feel that the blow was more powerful than before.

That night they shared their last meal together. Normally the meals were eaten in silence, but tonight the meal was somewhat more light-hearted, with idle banter and some teasing on Hiko and Jiraiya's part when Naruto had been goaded into letting Rei out. She had been kept inside the seal for the past few days as there really wasn't all that much to see and Naruto had said that the seal was probably more pleasant than the hot mountain's core.

***********************************************************************************************************

Hiko had accompanied Naruto and Jiraiya as far as the circular room with many entrances on their journey home.

"Naruto, before you go there are a few things that you might like to know. The first is that you are welcome to come back to further your training in Hiten Mitsurugi. The second is that while I couldn't tell you everything about how we got our power immortality, if you want further answers then you must seek out the true reason behind the ninja wars."

Jiraiya looked at him very sceptically and filed the information away for later use.

'The reason for the ninja wars? I thought it was all just a bid for power by each of the five elemental nations.'

"We really can't stay much longer. We have already stayed longer than I intended. We bid you farewell. Have no doubt that we will see you in the future." Jiraiya said his goodbyes as he turned to walk out of the cave.

"Before I leave, would you be able to tell me where the Hall of Eight Fathoms is?"

Hiko looked at him long and hard before responding.

"It's found on the western most point of the eastern continent, though as you are the gods will not listen to you or answer your questions. You must be of the same level as the ones that earned the gift of immortality."

'Thank god. I thought he was about to say that I had to be the clan leader. I'm getting seriously sick of hearing that I can't know because I'm not the clan leader.' With these thoughts running through his head, Naruto bowed to his sensei and left without another word.

It was some hours before either Naruto or Jiraiya spoke on the way home.

"Ero-sennin, do you know anything about the truth behind the ninja wars?" Naruto asked, still using the name he had called Jiraiya in his frustration over his perverted behaviour.

"Dammit, are you still calling me that?" Jiraiya grumbled back.

"You are supposed to be a sannin, a powerful ninja and you claim to be a sage of the toad arts. You are also happen to be a mega pervert. I included both aspects in the name."

Jiraiya mumbled something about stupid prepubescent brats and their lack of appreciation for the fine feminine form.

"Well do you know anything?" Naruto pressed on.

"I originally thought that the origin was of the elemental nations pressing for power over more land; just a battle for total supremacy. But in the context of what is happening it doesn't make sense. Why would a god give a clan such an incredible gift for out stripping others? There has to be something more behind this.

Naruto nodded in understanding, Jiraiya had given him some food for thought. Perhaps he could ask the Hokage and see what he knew.

***********************************************************************************************************

Naruto and Jiraiya had made good time in getting back to Konoha, which was now just visible on the horizon. They were rapidly approaching the village and it would only be several more hours before they were at the village's gates. Naruto was wearing the special clothes that Hiko had given him and was now starting to realise just how much they hindered his movement as he wasn't covering ground anywhere near as fast.

"Brat, before we get into the village I just wanted to talk to you about your sword techniques." Jiraiya called to Naruto while still moving at high speed

"Yeah?"

"If you can avoid it don't tell anyone about your techniques or anything else that you may have up your sleeve. If possible, reveal nothing at all."

"So I can't even tell my friends?"

"No, you'll find out by the end of today why not."

Nothing significant was exchanged between the pair for the remainder of the trip, though the faint whisper's of ramen from a certain blond, while a dreamy look came over his travelling partner's face every once in a while.

Once at the western gates that they had left from roughly two weeks prior their papers were checked, which took an unusually short amount of time, perhaps being in the presence of one that was practically at kage level made them smarten their act for at least five minutes.

Naruto was told by Jiraiya to do whatever he wanted to do for the time being.

Jiraiya in the mean time went and reported to the Hokage. As soon as Naruto disappeared from his he shunshined directly into the Hokages office; to his credit if the aging man was startled by his student's sudden appearance he didn't show it.

"Well? What happened? Did you find anything out?"

"A couple of things actually. The first is that the gift of immortality he possesses is actually a gift from the gods to his clan. The gods apparently gave the gift for brilliant performances in the ninja wars."

"That is quite interesting."

"There is more, apparently there is some connection behind the gods giving the gift and the true meaning of the wars."

"You mean there was a hidden agenda behind that of simply obtaining more land?"

"Supposedly yes. The man that said so, Seijuro Hiko is the leader of the Dragon clan. He apparently knows quite a bit about the matter, but would not share; not even with Naruto, he did say that he would tell Naruto if he became the clan leader. Speaking of, Naruto has to go back when he is sixteen to be trialled as a potential leader. Hiko also left the invitation for him to develop his sword skill in the future if he wants to return."

"Well, I will give these matters careful thought. In any case I will need to inform the jounin senseis that you have returned so they can inform their charges about the upcoming events."

***********************************************************************************************************

Naruto meanwhile had raced home in hopes of seeing his older brother. He searched the house; having no luck there he went through the village, checking the most likely places that he would find all turning up with nothing. He decided to check the training ground that the group usually went to in hopes of at least finding someone that he knew there.

He arrived to the odd call of a jutsu being announced, looking around he saw charred trees and great mounds of dirt displaced; then he saw just about everybody that he associated with at the training ground. All the rookies and nearly every jounin sensei was there; the only person missing was Gai Maito.

"What the hell are you training us all this hard for? The normal training is impossible, but for the last week it's been like you're trying to kill us." There could only be one person that would moan that much about the training they were given; Shikamaru.

"You never change do you Shikamaru?"

"Naruto, you're back?" It was Kakashi that asked.

"Just then actually. So you guys have been getting your butts handed to you have you?"

"You could say that, though it would probably be more accurate to say that it's been taken away and not being given back." It was Misao trying and failing spectacularly to paint a more vivid picture.

"O…K…what the hell?"

"Well normally they'd be nice enough tho give it back to us, but for the last week they've been taking our butts; making us grow new ones then taking them as well." The group just sweat dropped at the sheer pointlessness of the statement.

"Right, well anyway, we didn't want to tell you why were training you hard till Naruto got back so we could announce it to you as a group. All your jounin senseis, Gai included, feels that you are al powerful enough the take the chuunin exams."

Some of the group, namely Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Ami looked excited at the prospect, most looked thoughtful about the idea. Only one person looked as though they had their own personal raincloud raining on them, Shikamaru was not entirely impressed; something he decided to voice with the least amount of effort possible.

"Troublesome."

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**End Chapter 7**

Ok, I'm well aware that there are inconsistencies and bits of information that don't make sense, this is intentional. The information given is only what I want the characters to know. When everything is laid out it should all fit into place nicely (I hope). I can only pray that you all don't get annoyed with me and just stop reading because I'm taking so long.

Obviously the next chapter or so is gonna be the chuunin exams. I'm still not sure if I'm gonna do it all in one hit or break it up, depends on how large the forest of death ends up being.

Thanks for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 8**

Once again, thanks to those who took the time out to review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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It had been two days since Naruto had arrived back home in Konoha. Two days since the group of rookies had all been told that they were being recommended to compete in the chuunin exams. Their jounin senseis had told the group that this was more for the experience than anything else; if anyone made chuunin it would be seen as an added bonus.

It had also been two days since Naruto and Shikamaru had stumbled across a team from the sand village.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Come _on_ Shikamaru. Surely you aren't so lazy to miss the chuunin exams?"_

"_Surely _you_ have noticed that square rock that's following us."_

"_I have, I'm trying to ignore it and stop trying to change the subject."_

_Konohamaru, hearing that his rival in attaining the position of Hokage was trying to ignore him immediately got his panties in a twist and tried to make a flashy entrance._

_BOOM._

_The box had exploded and Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon could be seen coughing in the clearing smoke._

"_You can't ignore me; I'm your eternal rival." He brazenly declared._

_Both Naruto and Shikamaru shuddered at his choice of words._

"_Konohamaru, I'm kinda busy, trying to get the laziest person in this village to compete in the chuunin exams."_

"_You mean him? Why don't you get his girlfriend to try?" _

"_You have a girlfriend? How much changed while I was away?" Naruto asked incredulously._

"_I don't have a girlfriend." Shikamaru snapped irritably. "Asuma-sensei was talking about how apparently we choose girls most like our mothers, which is why he said that Ino must be my perfect match."_

"_Shikamaru and Ino sitting in a kissing in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby."_

_Apparently this little chant was the last straw for Shikamaru, because he actually did something that involved energy and started to chase Konohamaru. Meanwhile Naruto started laughing; his laughter was to be short lived when Konohamaru ran straight into a boy wearing what appeared to be a black cat suit with purple face paint on._

"_Ouch, you little brat! I'll teach you watch where you're going from now on."_

_The boy grabbed Konohamaru and lifted him clean off of the ground. _

"_What do you think you are doing?"_

"_Teaching this brat to watch his manners."_

"_Kankuro, let him go and let's leave." A girl with blond hair tied into four pony tails and a large metal object tied to her back tried to reason with him. _

_The boy, now identified as Kankuro appeared not to be even listening to the girl._

"_Just so you know; you're holding the Hokage's grandson there. I don't think he'll be impressed if you lay into him."_

"_I'm the son of the Kazekage, so he should also respect me." Kankuro, countered with a mean smile about his face._

"_So you're both related to kages, but you're a ninja. Attacking a Konoha citizen, a child no less, well I hate to think what our ANBU would like to do about protecting our citizens." Shikamaru added, gaining some true leverage over the situation._

_That actually put some fear into him. No matter whom he was related to, attacking a citizen for something as trivial as this would guarantee a reprimand that would be no laughing matter. Just as he was filtering through the new argument a third person from the sand village joined the commotion._

_He had flaming red hair and a gourd on his back. _

"_Kankuro, release him." Unlike the blonde girl, this boy was listened to immediately._

"_Gaara, sorry, he start…"_

"_Shut up." Gaara interrupted; his voice like ice._

"_I apologise for my teammate's idiocy. I am Subaku no Gaara. My teammates are Temari and Kankuro." The invitation was left for Naruto and Shikamaru to introduce themselves; something that Shikamaru did hesitantly._

"_Shikamaru Nara and that is Naruto Uzumaki. I assume you are here for the chuunin exams."_

"_Correct. I look forward to seeing you in the exams." Gaara said as his farewell bidding before turning on his heel and heading away._

_Naruto, for his part was having a score of different thoughts running through his head._

'_He feels like Hiko-sensei. Does that mean he's a Dragon too? No he doesn't feel like Hiko-sensei, he just feels different from Shikamaru.'_

'_Naruto-kun.'_

'_Rei-san?'_

'_What you sense, I sense it too. It's familiar, but I can't quite place it. Use caution.' Rei advised._

'_Thank you.' He paused for a second before asking 'Since when am I Naruto-_kun_? It was always Naruto-san.'_

'_Since I became Rei-_chan_.'_

'_I never called you that.'_

'_You did, when you summoned me in front of Jiraiya.'_

"_NARUTO!" Shikamaru was now yelling. "How the hell can you zone out when such a freaky guy is about? Sheesh."_

_FLASHBACK END_

It was only a further two days until they were due to take the first exam of the three part exam. Naruto and Shikamaru had told the others about the encounter they had with the sound team and advised the rest to use caution around them, particularly the red head.

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Two days had come and gone rather quickly. The teams had been set out and the only thing left to do was to arrive at the exam room for the first exam.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were all walking up to the designated room for the exam; room 301 of the ninja academy.

Having walked up only one set of stairs they immediately knew something was off when they saw a sign saying '301' one floor to early. A quick check showed them that a genjutsu was in place. There were two people standing either side of the supposed room '301' as though they were standing guard.

The three saw Neji, Tenten and Lee demanding that the guards be allow them into the room. Just as the group tried to walk past, they were stopped.

"You guys are way too green to be doing this exam. People have died doing this you know?" One of the pair started.

"You guys should just thank us for saving you and go home."

"We've spotted the genjutsu so just let us past and everything will be fine." Sakura said in as quite a voice as possible, trying not to alert any teams that might have been coming up the stairs to the trick, hoping to reduce the competition.

The pair gave a disbelieving look at each other before allowing the trio to pass. Neji and his team used this as their way past as well before stopping Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

"Do not think you are any better than the rest of us. By the end of these chuunin exams I will have put you and all your silly friends in their place. I will use this exam as a stage to prove my superiority to both Hiashi-sama and Gai-sensei."

"Neji, stop this. They haven't done anything so don't go looking for trouble before the exam starts." Tenten tried to reason with him. Neji sent them a parting glare before walking past them, taking care to brush against each of them in turn.

"I apologise for my teammate's unyouthful behaviour. We may be on different teams, but I will do my utmost to protect a fellow Konoha ninja.

When Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto walked into the exam room the immediately saw the rest of the rookie group.

"Hey Shikamaru, you decided to come after all?" Naruto greeted.

"Your one to talk, we thought you weren't going to show at all with how late you are." Kiba replied as he strolled up with the rest of the group.

"Were later than you, but still on time so what's the problem." Sasuke replied indifferently.

"You poor little things, you guys have no idea how things work around here. Maybe I should give you a hand."

"And who are you?" Ino questioned the bespectacled, silver haired teen that had abruptly started talking to them."

"Forgive me, my name is Kabuto Yakushi. You guys are making a fair bit of noise so I thought I'd do the friendly thing and just warn you that you are making yourselves a walking target."

The group turned to the rest of the examination room to see practically every pair of eyes trained on them giving heated glares.

"The hell with them. If they really wanna piece then they can form a line and I'LL TAKE 'EM ALL DOWN ONE BY ONE." Naruto declared raising his voice for the last part to ensure that the whole room heard.

"You're not quite all there are you? No never mind." Kabuto gave Naruto a funny look before turning to the rest of the group.

"So is there anything you wanna know, I can tell you a fair bit."

"Have you done these exams before?" Hinata asked.

"Six times before, I'm what you'd call a veteran."

"I'm not so sure we should be taking advice from people that fail that many times." Misao piped up.

"I have information on competitors if you'd rather that then." Kabuto offered.

"What countries are competing this year?" Shikamaru asked. If he asked the question he had in mind, about Gaara's abilities, he would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention from the boy.

"Well there are thirteen teams from sand, ten teams from Rain, five from grass, four from waterfall, one each from sound and lightning and twenty seven from fire."

"What do you have on the teams from sand, sound and lightning?"

"There isn't anything exceedingly special about either sound or lightning, but there is one standout team from Suna. The team consisting of the Kazekage's children. The real mystery of that team is Subaku no Gaara. He's done eleven C rank missions and a B rank, all without ever being injured."

"The hell?" Kiba voiced. A C rank without damage, well that was possible, though not probable, though a B rank and no damage, something was awry.

The rest of the rookies took in the information and decided that avoidance as Shikamaru and Naruto had suggested was the best course of action.

Just as Kabuto had said this last part he was attacked by several ninja wearing hitai-ates bearing a musical note; evidently from the sound village. One drew back his sleeve and swung a roundhouse punch at Kabuto. Kabuto dodged rather nimbly and appeared to be fine, till his glasses shattered; he lost his balance then fell to the floor and vomited.

"Still think that there isn't anything special about the team from hidden sound?" The girl of their team sneered at him while Sakura ran a diagnostic jutsu before healing his perforated eardrum.

There was a large poof of smoke and before them stood twelve people in grey uniforms along with a tall man in a bandana wearing a black trench coat.

"Alright you sick, baby faced degenerates, that's more than enough. There will be no fighting in these exams without the proctor's clearance. Understood? Anyone going against that can leave now."

"Sorry, we have some extra energy from all the excitement." A boy that had more of a resemblance to a mummy than a human tried to justify.

The man just ignored him and continued.

"My name is Ibiki Morino; I'm the proctor for the first exam. Get to a seat, no sitting next to teammates. Well? Stop staring and get to it!"

Everybody scrambled to a desk at his command after momentarily being dumbfounded.

"Right this exam is a written test."

'Are you kidding? I suck at these.' Naruto though dejectedly.

"Listen up, I have to tell you the rules for this exam, and I won't be repeating myself so listen properly. The rules are as follows. You start out on full marks when you get your paper. For each of the questions you get wrong you lose a mark. If you are caught cheating you lose two marks."

'Great! Any other ways for me to fail?'

"Furthermore, if you get caught cheating five times or don't get any questions right and score a zero, then you along with your teammates will be disqualified.'

'Oh…crap!'

"Right, you all have your tests, so begin."

'Right, let's just see what the questions are like before I completely thro in the towel…these are freaking impossible. Even Sakura and Shikamaru would have trouble with these. Still, not s bad as Iruka-sensei's tests, if you're caught cheating in one of those it's an instant fail.'

After looking at the questions he realised what he had just run through in his head.

'Wait, I don't fail immediately for cheating and I only have to get one question right so I don't fail. Basically, I have five shots to get one question right. May as well have some fun doing it.'

It was about fifteen minutes into the exam when the apparently clam Naruto requested to go to the toilet. He went accompanied by one of the male chuunin. Ten minutes later he came back looking rather relieved, the chuunin chaperone came back looking rather disgusted, and it became apparent to everyone in the exam room why. Naruto stank, as he took his seat somewhere near the middle those that he passed by recoiled in disgust at the vile smell that assaulted their nostrils. Kiba and Akamaru could be seen desperately trying to cover their noses. Ibiki gave him a stern look before continuing watching the rest.

Naruto sat there for the next five minutes looking as calm as he had for the whole exam when all of a sudden there was a massive wind from outside. The wind shattered the windows, blew papers everywhere and even sent some people flying.

It was absolute mayhem and inside it all many of the Suna nin had been grilled about disrupting the exam, after all, the wind responsible could only have been a jutsu, and what better village for wind jutsu than the wind village itself.

When the commotion was over and every one had their tests back there were four people that noticed that their test were still absent.

"You will be re-issued tests." Ibiki told them.

"But we had questions answered." One of the examinees whined.

"That's your problem, not mine."

Naruto, still looking calm started filling out his test.

"Pencils down! Times up! I have one more question to give. Listen well, because there are rules that are specific to this question."

He surveyed the group, noting that he had their attention he continued.

"Rule one, you may choose whether or not to take this question."

"Wait, if there is a choice, why bother taking the extra risk? If we have our questions answered correctly then why risk it?" a random genin from Konoha asked.

"Shut up and listen, I'm not done yet. If you choose not to take it then you and your teammates are disqualified."

"Then of course we'll take it!" The same genin yelled out.

"I SAID SHUT UP! If you take the question and get it wrong then you not only fail, but you will be barred from _ever _taking the exams again."

"Wait, what? That's crap! There are people that have taken the test before and are taking it again."

"You're just unlucky I'm making the rules." Ibiki replied with a smile that looked as though he was the cat that ate the canary.

"That's it, I'm out, it's too much to risk." One genin yelled out, he walked out with the rest of his teammates.

Following this there were many calls from other teams that they too would not take the risk.

Naruto out of the corner of his eye saw Sakura raising her hand, he wasn't sure what the hell she was doing but surely she wouldn't say that she too couldn't handle it.

It really did seem as though Sakura was going to try again next year, he had to do something.

"You know that has to be the stupidest rule in history!" Naruto cried out. "And still I'm gonna sit through it. So what if I can't become a chuunin, I'll just jump from genin straight to Hokage, and then when I _am_ Hokage, I'll make sure that you do nothing but retrieve Tora missions for the rest of your career!"

The outburst had two effects. The first was to make every Konoha ninja shudder at the thought of nothing but rescuing tora for the rest of their life. The other was to put some backbone behind the rest of the genin, Sakura had lowered her hand and nobody else was quitting.

"You're quite sure? This decision will affect the rest of your life." Ibiki tried to just get a few more to quit.

"I gave you my word, and I'll never go back on it, that's my nindo." Naruto replied, full of confidence.

"Very well then, the only thing left for me to do it to inform you that YOU PASS."

'Wait what about the tenth question." The blond girl, Temari, asked.

"There wasn't one, or more accurately it was the decision between two impossible choices. Let me give you a hypothetical, you are asked to retrieve the plans invasion force from enemy an enemy camp. It is likely that they know you are coming and have prepared accordingly. Do you (A) not accept the mission because of the risk and try to do it when there is no risk of failure, or do you (B) continue one, trying to gain the information that could save your village. Those that choose the soft option and chose to save their own necks over their comrades or simply choose not to run the mission because of the risk of death have no right to call themselves chuunin."

"So the first nine questions were a waste of time?"Temari asked.

"Hardly, that was a test to see your information gathering skills in the most adverse of situations. You will find that throughout your career that information can be the most precious thing on the field of battle." He said as he took off his bandana revealing a horribly disfigured scalp, the remnants of having being tortured for information.

"However, bad information is better than no information. In this example, if the enemy discovers you, they can change their plans and set a trap. Your information gathering skills must be flawless."

At that he decided to actually find out who the outrageous person that wrecked havoc earlier.

"Speaking of information gathering, who was it that actually pulled that stunt earlier? I have my suspicions."

All eyes around the room focussed on the nearest Suna ninja, expecting an explanation. What many did not expect was for Naruto to raise his hand and take responsibility.

"Well, I knew I had no real techniques for information gathering, at least not in this situation. So I went to the toilet. While I was in there the chaperone may remember me making a lot of noises pretending to try and do a number two."

"Please keep the details to a minimum; that is something I'd rather forget." The chuunin in question responded with a grimace.

"Well after making noises like I was constipated, I dropped a kunai in the water, making the splashing sound. The smell came from one of my unused stink pellets from my prankster days." Many of the other chuunin smiled each remembering a prank he pulled and the chase that ensued.

"Well the smell was bad enough for you to need to vomit, so I used that chance to create kage bunshins. Once we left the toilets they left and went outside after assuming different forms under a henge. From there they used daitoppa to create the disturbance and then stole some papers. They read them through, dispelled and the information they absorbed came to me."

"Well, not too bad kid. Not only did you manage to get the info you needed you managed to pin it on someone else. Everyone was looking at the Suna nin as the culprits."

Just as he finished another man wearing a bandana walked in, this one was wearing a pair of round sunglasses, and blue long sleeve shirt, pants and shinobi sandals. It was Konohamaru's personal tutor Ebisu.

"Ibiki-san, you left far too many of them."

"They are an exceptional bunch this year, Ebisu."

"Well I will judge for myself." Ebisu snorted, while turning his nose up at the genin.

"You are all dismissed for the day, you are to meet at training ground forty four tomorrow at seven am."

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The next came all too quickly, many of the genin had spent the day resting, in fact there was only one exception and that was Lee. He decided that it was necessary to have a victory run of 100 laps around Konoha in celebration of his success of the first exam.

The chuunin hopefuls gathered around the designated area.

"Welcome to the forty fourth training ground, affectionately known to Konoha as the forest of death." Naruto inwardly smirked.

'Heh, couldn't be that bad, I've been going there for ages.'

'_Calm down Naruto-kun, don't get arrogant. After all, pride comes before a fall.' _Rei's voice sounded in his head.

'Right sorry.' He replied sheepishly before tuning back in.

"…be given a heaven or an earth scroll. You must try to obtain the scroll you do not have and then make your way to the centre tower, positioned five kilometres from any entrance. You will have five days to complete this, in which time you must also avoid the creatures in the forest and any dangerous plants you come across."

"What about food?" Chouji piped up.

"The forest will provide, if you know how to look, if not then you'll die of poisoning." Chouji paled slightly.

"Now then, to pass you must reach the centre tower within five days with both scrolls. There will be no quitting in the middle, so the easiest way out, besides death, is to complete the exam. You must also have all teammates present at the time of completion and no teammate may be injured that will prevent their continuing participation in these exams. That means they must be alive an able to fight. Finally as you are forbidden to look inside the scroll till you get to the tower. As chuunin you will be trusted with sensitive information, this is a test of that trust that you will not look."

"And if we do?" one of the rain ninja tested.

"Well if you're really that interested then by all means open them and find out." Ebisu leered.

"Now I need you to sign these death waver forms. There will most likely be deaths in this exam and I don't want your villages to hold it to the Hidden Leaf if you do. No signed form, no competing." Ebisu stated.

A short while later as the forms and then the scroll were handed out teams took their positions at one of the 44 entrances place around the perimeter of the training ground, waiting for the starting signal. A kunai flashed in the air and all teams rushed into the area, immediately starting on some sort of plan that they had worked out together.

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"There is a stream slightly north of this gate. If we head there we can stop worrying about a source of food and water." Naruto shared his knowledge with the rest.

"How did you know that?"

"I used to train in here from time to time. I don't know every area, but I do know parts of it."

"Well it's a good idea and if there are other teams that wander into the area then it would be an ideal place to set up traps for an ambush." Sakura pointed out.

"Fine, the stream it is, but we have to be careful that we don't fall into a trap just like Sakura said." Sasuke confirmed.

It was twenty minute of travelling when Sakura noticed that something was completely off about this section of the forest; it was dead silent. There wasn't a sound to be heard, they also had the strange suspicion that they were being followed.

Two men and a woman appeared before them, another Konoha team. The team's members appeared to be in their forties, Naruto couldn't believe that there were people this old that were still genin. Sasuke and Sakura each drew out a kunai preparing for anything, while Naruto simply made some shadow clones to add more numbers.

The three elder ninja said nothing, not even asking for a truce before rushing in to quickly close the gap between themselves and Naruto.

It really was fortunate that Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had prepared before hand, otherwise they may not have been prepared to react. They enemy team had formed an arrow point formation, meaning that Naruto could not use his Reikoku Ken-ryuu to its full potential by rotating around the enemy and then countering. It simply meant that he was on the defensive. As he was rotating around attacks, he had to change the direction of his rotation multiple times in rapid succession due to the well co-ordinated attacks that they were using.

Sasuke and Sakura in the mean time had managed to find an opening and managed to knock the two flanking opponents down to give Naruto a chance to counter properly.

Sasuke exploited the opening first, stopping a left handed back slash of a kunai with his own left hand while attacking the person's ribs with his other free hand while they could not defend properly. This caused them to recoil slightly in pain, it was all the opening he needed and sent them flying with a right legged roundhouse kick.

With that person momentarily out of the way I left the second person in the arrow formation wide open as the other was not there to cover her. Sakura used the butt of her kunai and slammed it against the base of her neck, whipping her head forwards and leaving her head at a perfect height for a knee to the temple. The opening was not left unused and Sakura managed to get from behind her to her side faster than she knew she could move and slammed her knee into the woman's head.

This left the third person, the head of the arrow almost completely vulnerable as there were four clones around plus Naruto himself. Naruto swatted the fist that came at his gut aside and simply pushed the man back. While the man was momentarily stunned two clones came in; one from the front the other from behind. The clone in front elbowed the man in the solar plexus, the clone behind did the same to the same point on the back. The man lost use of his legs and dropped to the floor.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? We're all Konoha shinobi. You shouldn't be trying to kill us for the sake of an exam." Sakura growled at the adults.

"Stupid girl…this isn't about some stupid exam." The man that Sasuke defeated choked out as he tried to regain his senses.

"Then what is this about?" Sasuke demanded.

He wasn't given an answer; instead the trio renewed their attack with more fervour than before. The two that could move re-engaged in taijutsu again, while this time the third that had lost use of his legs was going through hand seals. The other two had once again engaged Naruto, keeping him occupied as the third prepared his jutsu.

'They really are trying to kill him.' Sakura thought wildly.

As she moved to once again take out the woman of the team once again she made her decision, if they were going to try and kill her teammate she would return the favour.

She activated the chakra scalpel that she had learned. While it was not fine enough to be used as a scalpel, it was more than enough to cleanly slice through flesh and bone better than any kunai. There was no more thought involved, she got inside the wild swings the woman was using to try and get to Naruto and ran her hand from one side of her neck to the other, cleanly cutting across her trachea as well as jugular vein and carotid artery. Blood spayed everywhere, but Sakura payed it no mind, she had been to surgery rooms and seen just how bloody they could get.

Sasuke saw the man going through seals while Naruto was preoccupied trying to dodge the remaining able bodied person. He recognised to jutsu almost immediately and sprung into action, forming the seals even faster than the man who had already started performing hand seals.

"_Katon: gokakyu no jutsu." _He screamed.

A great fireball erupted out of Sasuke's mouth, incinerating their enemy.

Naruto this time opted to sweep the man's legs from under him, then thrust an open palm against the man's wind pipe as he fell, eventually nearly crushing it between his hand and the ground.

"Feels just like the good old days, right Kyuubi?" The man spat at Naruto.

He had been considering letting the man keep his life, but he had just broken a law punishable by death, before the man could blink he had a kunai lodged in his throat. He turned to his friends.

"You know you could have just let them kill me and then get burned up in the fire that followed. You would have had plenty of time to get out of range."

"That's beside the point. You don't expect Konoha nin to do that to one of their own. And why did he call you Kyuubi?"

Naruto visibly stiffened.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Sakura." Naruto replied tersely.

"Yes it is, you were attacked because of it. Don't think that we don't see the looks people give you on the streets. Every time we ask, you play it off as nothing. When we ask Kakashi-sensei, he says it's for you to tell, not him. Aren't we your friend? Can't we know?"

Naruto drew a deep breath before responding.

"I'll tell you after we finish this exam. We need to concentrate." Naruto said as he went and searched the dead bodies, plucking out an earth scroll.

"Damn, we already have that one." Sasuke muttered.

"We can still use if for trading if another team has an extra heaven scroll."

"Right, well let's he…ARGH!"

Sasuke had been cut off midsentence, a powerful gust of wind had blown the three apart.

"Sasuke? Naruto? Where are you?" Sakura called out, keeping a kunai draw to protect herself.

'That wasn't any ordinary wind, that had to be a ninjutsu, perhaps daitoppa.' Sakura surmised in her head.

"Sakura, I'm here. Where's Naruto?" Sasuke called back, joining his female teammate.

Sakura only shook her head to indicate that she didn't know.

"Your other teammate is a little…preoccupied at the moment." The voice came from a pale looking man, though at a quick glance you could have mistaken him for a woman. He was wearing am off white tunic, with a purple belt around his waist and a loose black body suit underneath.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.

"Just an interested observer. I didn't get to observe you a great deal Sasuke; perhaps you would like a second showing. If you do well enough I might give you a little gift." While the man spoke he seemed to be doing something with his eyes.

'Like a snake does to its prey, and were the unlucky rodent, I can't move. I'm stuck here just from my fear of the man.' Sasuke thought frantically.

'COME ON…MOVE!" Sasuke roared as he jammed a kunai into his leg to get his body into gear and out of the trance like state.

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Naruto was just coming to when he heard the sound of the undergrowth being crushed by something very large. He whipped his head around to see the open maw of a gigantic snake bearing down on him. Naruto started moving through the trees trying to escape the snake. If he could just get a free second he could use a jutsu to destroy it, but it was relentless.

Just as Naruto thought he had a break, a second snake burst from underneath him, he only just managed to avoid being swallowed, but could not avoid the writhing tail as it rose into the air. The two snakes eyed him for a full five seconds before they once again started their pursuit of their pray.

Try as he may, Naruto could not do anything, he was always using his hands to grasp onto branches and the one kunai he did manage to get off bounce harmlessly off of the snakes scales. At the back of his mind he could feel a dull tug, but he couldn't quite grasp onto the feeling and couldn't identify it so he refocussed on avoiding the snake, but it was too late, that one moment of inattention had cost him.

No sooner had his feet touched the branch he was aiming for, a snake had used its tail to smash into splinters as another snake came up from underneath opening its mouth and swallowing him whole.

A moment later the snake seemed distended, before the snake burst open, Naruto clones spilling out. The clones then rushed the remaining snake, positioning all along its body.

"_Bunshin daibakuha." _Naruto called, as all of his clones positioned on the snake exploded.

The explosion was enormous, it was seen for miles away. It was taken as a clear warning for many teams not to approach. One team however, had seen the explosion but were split between going and simply walking into the tower. It was the sand team consisting of Kankuro, Temari and Gaara. Gaara wish to fight the person responsible, but Temari and Kankuro were delicately trying to dissuade him from the idea. Saying the wrong thing to their mentally unstable brother could mean their deaths. In the end Gaara's older siblings managed to convince him to complete the exam by simply walking into the tower with their heaven and earth scrolls in hand.

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Sasuke and Sakura were being pummelled by the man that had confronted them. He was yet to identify himself, but they could easily see that he was in a completely different league. Sakura for her part was trying to place genjutsu on the man, or else simply just throw weapons when she found an opening, but he seemed impervious to it all. Sasuke was engaging in ninjutsu and taijutsu, while he would land one or two sound hits on the man they were nothing truly significant.

'If we both keep fighting then we're both going to die. If all he really wants is me; then I can just give him what he wants and Sakura can life another day.' He thought frantically, desperately going through his options.

"Wait, all you want is me right?" It wasn't something the man was expecting to her, but he stopped to show that he was listening none-the-less.

"Go on." The man allowed.

"If I let you do what you want with me, if you kill me, will you leave Sakura alone?" A predatory grin came across the man's face.

"You have my wor…"

"Don't listen to him Sasuke!" A voice called out.

"Naruto?" Sakura called out.

"Don't listen to him."

"You haven't been here you don't know what we're dealing with. He's too powerful."

"And when you're gone who's gonna help me protect Sakura when he goes back on his word. If he kills you, you can't rematch your brother. Everything that we've been doing will be for nothing if you die here."

"Annoying brat, he was so close to giving in, if you had just stayed out." The man almost hissed.

Naruto turned to the man.

"You, I don't know who you are, but for doing this, we're of us are gonna kill you." Naruto declared as he was going through hand signs. Sasuke recognised the signs and started to prepare his own jutsu.

"_Fuuton: daitoppa."_

"_Katon: Dai endan."_ The boys cried out at the same time, Naruto using a wind based attack and Sasuke using Naruto's attack to power up his own fire jutsu.

"Very impressive. That might have killed me if I was an idiot and let something so obvious hit me." The man goaded as he rushed in for a taijutsu match.

Naruto and Sasuke were switching between high and low attacks; no matter what they tried they couldn't seem to catch the man off balance. Sakura was firing kunai and shuriken in to keep the man on the defensive when he would have been otherwise attacking in the gaps in the boys' offence.

'This boy's eyes. They're slitted. Ahh…this must be the kyuubi's container. Drawing on the fox's power I see. That might explain why he has been slowly getting faster.' In a sudden burst of speed, Sasuke and Naruto were both knocked aside momentarily. Dashing over to Naruto, the man picked him up by the neck using his tongue and formes hand seals. His hand was surrounded by a purple fire before he plunged the hand into the seal on Naruto's gut.

Casting Naruto aside he summoned another large snake. The snake the moment it was summoned took after Sakura, trying to remove the thorn in its aster's side.

Naruto was in pain, the strange tug in the back of his mind was even stronger now. A sudden wave of pain washed over his body, his whole body felt like it was on fire.

He tried to scream; what came out was an ear splitting earth shattering roar.

The roar made the snake stop in fear as it abandoned Sakura in favour of seeing the origin of the sound. The pale man and Sasuke had also stopped their fighting to see what was going on.

When their gaze all ended up Naruto they were amazed at what was happening. His body was growing, his eyes were no longer their piercing blue but a brilliant gold. As they watched they saw his skin harden and change to a golden colour as well. Eventually a pair of wings sprouted out of his back and a tail from the base of his spine. When everything seemed to be finished, Naruto was no longer in front of them; instead a five meter long golden dragon was staring at their enemy.

The dragon rushed in, crashing through the undergrowth, the trees in its way were left as splinters. The man they were fighting stared at it calmly as the snake he summoned bit into the dragon's torso. They could hear a slight creaking, and then a massive SNAP and the snake's fangs broke off and went flying.

The dragon bit into the snake's neck. By now the snake was severely wounded, but the dragon wasn't finished; it released the neck and used its claws to rend the flesh all down one side, before sending a torrent of fire into the open wound. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air. The snake was well and truly defeated and dispelled in a puff of smoke.

The dragon once again turned its attention to the pale man causing all of its irritation. It charged the man, having no regard for its surroundings and crashing straight through anything in its way.

Sasuke and Sakura were both watching in fear and awe of the powerful beast before them. They watched as the dragon was now using its razor sharp claws to slash at their enemy, taking large chunks out of the trees and leaving mighty gouges in the earth.

'What the hell happened? I'm going to have to look further into this.' the pale man thought as he dodged the strikes dished out by the gigantic reptile.

He had just leaped from one tree to the next after the branch he had been standing on was reduced to splinters, only to have the dragon quickly follow up with a strike from a thick tail, sending the man flying. He came to an abrupt halt as he was smashed into a tree, only to see the dragon rear its head back open its mouth and unleash a torrent of scorching flames.

The attack was simply too large to be avoided by conventional means, so the man had no choice but to use a quick _kawarimi jutsu_ to avoid the intense burst of flames. The dragon, however, did not relent and as soon as it caught sight of him again started attacking once more.

This time, with a flap of its wings, the man was sent flying; the gust produced had been short but intense, proving stronger than the _daitoppa_. The dragon used the man's air born moment to launch itself at its opponent and cleanly slice the man in half, only to have the man dissolve into mud.

'This is truly enjoyable. Having this as a pet would be quite…beneficial. If I could find a way of getting him on my side, or perhaps even his children. Oh…the possibilities.' The man fantasised in his own head.

The dragon had renewed its attack on the man, only to find that it was getting far slower. It had launched itself completely at the paled adversary, only to find that by the time it got to him, it had reverted back into the form of Naruto. The man had caught him midflight and was now inspecting him closely, as though it may provide him with some clues. Naruto was far too exhausted to even pout up a fight.

"Well Sasuke, both you and your little friend here have piqued my interest. I think I will give you a little gift. You should be grateful; it's not often that one of the sannin gives you something so precious." He said to Sasuke as his neck extended beyond what should have been humanly possible and bit him on the neck. Sasuke felt like he had just had molten lead injected into his neck. The burning was so intense that he only managed to scream once before passing out in agony.

The man retracted his head and performed the same to Naruto; both boys developed a seal that was shaped much like the three tomoes in the sharingan, just with the tail of one tomoe facing the head of the next, almost in a chain of three.

"Who are you? What did you do to them?" Sakura demanded.

Tell them that Orochimaru gave them a little gift. When the time is right the will seek me for more power."

Sakura knew of the traitor Orochimaru, how could you not. Not only was he Konoha's most notorious nuke-nin, he was also one of the sannin. It was little wonder that the three of them had stood little chance against the man. The only thing she could do was gather her now unconscious comrades and take them to rest.

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It was early morning and Lee was about scouting. He was supposed to be looking for any teams within the vicinity, what he found was a squirrel with an exploding tag attached to its back.

"Who would be so unyouthful to do that to you, my furry friend?" Lee said as he looked sadly at the squirrel.

Little did Lee just know that Sakura had just warded the same squirrel away from the site where she was watching over the boys. She had been watching them all night. Sasuke seemed fine, but it was Naruto who seemed in real trouble. His body looked as though it was trying to purge whatever was put into him by Orochimaru. He was running a fever and his body was pitching through the night.

What Sakura didn't know that Naruto's phoenicisian qualities were desperately trying to fight off the tainted chakra that Orochimaru had injected into his body.

Three people were cursing when Sakura had sent the squirrel away. They thought that she had spotted the explosion tag attached to its back and sent it away before the trap could be sprung. In reality, the creature was just about to spring one of her own, more carefully laid traps and she scared it away before it could.

Deciding to take their chances the three came out front he shadows to confront Sakura. Sakura immediately noticed the sound village head bands and remembered their little scuffle with Kabuto in the first exam.

"Such carelessly laid traps." The one that looked like a mummy said, taking care to step over the obvious trip wire, only to step on a more inconspicuous wire laid down under dense layers of dirt and leaves.

A log came swinging down from a tree from their left, only for the sound ninja to dodge that by simply jumping over it. What they didn't realise was that at the same time a hail of kunai came in from behind them and to their right. This only left one direction; forwards.

They realised their folly too late, the girl received a kunai straight into her calf muscle, effectively ending her movement. Her male teammate with spiky hair had received a kunai to the shoulder and another to the elbow in his left arm.

The last, the mummy, had managed to quickly relace himself with a log, being more skilled than either of his two teammates.

He was now bearing down on Sakura with a metal gauntlet like weapon showing on his arm. Before he even reached Sakura he was sent reeling by a kick to the face courtesy of Lee's _dainamikko entori._

"Lee!" Sakura exclaimed, honestly surprised to see the green clad boy there.

"I said that I would always help a fellow Konoha nin, even in the middle of these exams, did I not?"

"You did. Thank you, Lee."

"I would like to know who I am about to fight, but politeness dictates that I must give my name first. My name is Rock Lee."

The mummy man regarded him cautiously before answering.

"I am Dosu Kinuta, my teammates are Kin Tsuchi and Zaku Abumi."

Lee took his ready stance, only to be stopped by Sakura.

"These are my teammates. Let me defend them." She said to Lee with a steely look in her eyes.

"Before we start, why are you here? If you're after an earth scroll then we have a spare."

"We have no interest in this exam or even becoming chuunin. We are acting on the orders of our kage, Lord Orochimaru. And when he orders us to kill your two teammates, we have no choice but to comply."

Sakura didn't like the answer she got but didn't say anything further. She had already made her decision when the Konoha nin attacked Naruto, she would defend her teammates, even if it mean killing for them. If all these three wanted was to kill her teammates, the she would simply return the favour.

There was no preamble; she activated the chakra scalpel, before racing in to meet Dosu in a taijutsu match. Sakura didn't have any formal training in using a chakra scalpel as a weapon, but her normal physical attacks were not all that powerful, so she decided to enhance them by adding chakra and being able to cut to the bone.

She started out with a standard slash at his torso. Dosu, not wanting to test how sharp her scalpel actually was dodged the blow before trying to land a quick punch as a counter. The punch was brushed aside with a small clang of the gauntlet, putting Dosu in a poor position to either defend or counter. Sakura used the opportunity to send a haymaker at him, only to stop midstrike. She had an over whelming sense of nausea and her balance seemed shot.

"Like the effect of my melody arm? When it creates sound I can use my chakra to channel it directly into your inner ear, interfering with your balance among other things."

Sakura was regaining her composure when Dosu sent a vicious swipe at her head, connecting with her cheek bone using his metal melody arm.

As she staggered back from the strike, Dosu charged in for a follow up, only for Sakura to jump out of range. She was still unsteady, though better than before. She hid herself in the trees, as she jumped to safety, observing her foe.

"Come out and fight or I'll just simply kill your teammates without any resistance." He called to her. Dosu smirked when she took the bait.

He flicked his gauntlet as she drew closer, making a clear ringing sound. Using his chakra he directed it at Sakura. The pitch of the sound directed at her would be enough to completely lose her balance. Dosu's visible eye widened when Sakura continued on though the attack. He brought his hands up to defend himself, gauntlet first, hoping that she would at least damage her hand when she punched the melody arm.

His eye widened further when he felt no pressure against his arm and realised that he had been tricked by one of the most basic of ninja techniques; a bunshin. Sakura came out from her hiding place and charged at Dosu, her chakra scalpel active.

She made her attack, only to have it fall slightly short. She was aiming for Dosu's neck from the side, but the ground around her had suddenly softened, making her loose her footing slightly. The attack was still close enough to do serious harm, but it had been negated by Dosu shifting his body position slightly.

_CLANG_

Sakura had landed her blow in such a way that the melody arm used to defend Dosu was not only damaged, but impossible to wear again. As the gauntlet fell to the ground it was possible to see that the chakra scalpel had passed through a number of the holes on the weapon; meaning it was practically useless for the rest of the exam.

A thin trail of blood was dripping down from Dosu's arm, but he paid it no mind as he turned to his teammate, Zaku.

"Thank you for that, I would have completely lost the use of my arm if that had connected properly."

Zaku just smirked as he took his arm out of the soft ground.

'So he used the holes in his arms to force air into the ground and restrict my movement for a second.' Sakura groused in her head.

Dosu and Sakura readied themselves for another round, just as they were about to begin a foul chakra blasted from the tree in which Sakura had used to keep Sasuke and Naruto overnight.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

Naruto's scream pierced the air as his body came into view, gripping his neck. A vile black chakra was pouring out of the place where he had been bitten by Orochimaru.

Dosu and Kin broke out into a cold sweat as they recognised the black chakra and the trouble it meant. Zaku, having never encountered a person with the seal that Naruto and Sasuke both bore, didn't realise the danger. He stood up and raised his hand at Naruto.

"Z_ankuha" _he uttered as a blast of air rushed towards Naruto and the place where Sasuke was resting. While the attack was still heading towards Naruto, a second and far more potent blast of the chakra was felt, a moment later Naruto had disappeared.

Sasuke appeared carrying Naruto over his shoulder. It was then that Dosu saw both the seals present on their necks. Sasuke's looked like a typical seal; Naruto's on the other hand was slightly different. Where Sasuke's had the normal three tomoe in a chain, Naruto's seal was missing one of the tomoe, almost as though a link in the chain was missing. He wasn't given much longer to contemplate the issue as he saw Sasuke flicker out of sight, only to feel himself be lifted entirely off the ground.

Dosu watched in horror as he saw black flame like markings spread across Sasuke's skin.

'The first level of the seal has activated.' Dosu thought to himself as he desperately struggled to free himself from Sasuke's iron grip.

"Why are you attacking us? Do you want our scroll?" It was uttered in something barely above a whisper, but the threat carried with it was immense.

"We…ordered to attack…Lord Orochimaru." Dosu gasped out as he tried to breathe through Sasuke's crushing grip.

"Why?" Sasuke's eyes seemed to bore into Dosu's very head as he stared at him emotionlessly.

"Seal…cursed heaven…develops when…fighting." Dosu manages to gasp out.

Sasuke threw him back a small way, trying calming himself down. Slowly the markings across his body receded back into the seal and the pressure of the vile chakra emanating from him dissipated.

Zaku thought he was completely out of the picture and forgotten. He raised his hand again and was about to fire anther _zankuha _when his hand was redirected skyward. The blast shredded the tree branches in the way, but otherwise was completely harmless.

"Zaku that's enough! We're outnumbered and none of us can fight at maximum. We'll leave them be." He said as he started to leave.

"Not so fast. Leave your scroll behind." Sasuke called to them.

As he motioned to leave the scroll behind his teammates urged him not to listen to Sasuke.

"He's already said it; you're outnumbered and can't fight at maximum. There isn't anything stopping us from killing you and just taking it." Naruto added.

The arguments were ceased instantly. The scroll was collected by Naruto as the other three were ready to strike if their enemy tried anything.

"Lee, what are you doing? Helping the enemy?" A voice called to Lee, it was Neji.

"I was assisting Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan."

"So you were aiding the enemy." Neji stated.

"Allies, Neji-kun. They are Konoha ninja first."

"Let's leave. If they can't survive here then it will just prove that they were too weak to participate in these exams."

Lee shook his head and left with Neji after noticing that the sound nin had also left, perhaps using Neji's interruption as a distraction and leaving silently.

Naruto took a look at the scroll in his hand; it was a heaven scroll, the one they needed to complete the exam.

They set out for the tower at the centre of the forest in order to complete the exam.

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They had arrived in the tower by the end of the second day. There they opened the scrolls at the same time as was permitted. In a plume of smoke their academy teacher, Iruka was standing before them.

"Well, this is a coincidence. Congratulations on passing you three."

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked.

"Right. I'm supposed to tell you that you are to wait here for the exam to complete. The tower has everything you will need, including beds and medic facilities. You may train, though I would suggest resting. You are strictly forbidden from re-entering the forest. Doing so will result in disqualification."

"If possible, could we meet with Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Sure I can arrange that." Iruka said before shunshining out of the room.

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"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down and one at a time."

The three genin each took a deep breath before starting over, this time with Sakura as the spokes person for the trio.

"Well first we were attacked by some Konoha nin. They were close to their forties or fifties. They only seemed interested in Naruto. Well we managed to kill them." Sakura stopped with a slight glaze in her eyes; as though this was the first chance she had to think about her actions.

"Are you all right? The first kill is always the hardest. You should know that it's normal to feel guilt. It's okay to hate that part of our job, but it is part of it none-the-less. If you do hate it, it doesn't mean you're a bad ninja, but you should always remember to kill for the right reasons."

"The right reasons?" Sasuke asked.

"To protect. Sometimes you will meet others that are protecting something for themselves. Those are often the hardest battles, because each of you is fighting desperately to protect those precious to you as well as your ideals and beliefs. Anyway, please continue."

"Right, so after we defeated them we were attacked again. This time by a man on his own, but he was insanely powerful."

Sakura described the fight that she and Sasuke had, right up until Naruto appeared. Naruto took this time to describe the fight that he had with the giant snakes. By this stage Kakashi was getting very worried. To his knowledge, there were only two people that could summon snakes, Anko and Orochimaru.

Naruto was at a loss for what happened next, that is where Sasuke and Sakura mentioned that he used some sort of strange jutsu on his stomach. After that Kakashi got a detailed account of the dragon transformation Naruto went through, that culminated in a strange seal being put on both Naruto and Sasuke.

By the end of the description of the fight with the sound genin cell Kakashi was pacing in the room, listening very carefully. He had seen the strange formation of the seal on Naruto's neck and said that both would have to be sealed, something that neither boy objected to.

***********************************************************************************************************

Jiraiya had been called to an emergency meeting in the Hokage's tower. When he got there he saw a full room consisting of virtually every jounin in Konoha.

"Good now that you are here we can start." The Hokage announced noticing that his student had just walked through entered.

"I have gathered you all here today to inform you that Orochimaru of the sannin is interfering in the chuunin exams. There was a rise in the noise level of the room as many people asked questions in alarm.

"I will hand over to Kakashi Hatake to explain the specifics as it involves his team specifically."

Kakashi then retold the event of Orochimaru's battle with his genin, changing facts in the story, to cover for Naruto and his abilities. At the conclusion of the story there were calls to end the chuunin exams.

"No, to end them now is to seem weak in the face the other nations. If we cancel, then it will be virtually impossible to get missions again. Without missions we would have no money coming into the village and we would end up being destroyed from the inside out. It would play right into Orochimaru's hands." Sarutobi rejected the idea almost immediately.

"But what of the feudal lords that come to watch the final rounds? We won't be able to protect them adequately." A jounin in the crowd asked.

"That is exactly my point. If we say that we can't protect them, we will never get any high profile missions again, particularly body guard mission. Our village thrives off of body guard and transport missions while many others survive on assassinations. Make no mistake; we do assassinations, though the bulk of our income is directed from guarding missions. If we say that we can't do it then those missions dry up; we will be left in a very difficult position."

There was a general murmur of consensus from the crowd.

"We will continue with our current course of action for the time being. I urge you to be vigilant and to take notice of absolutely anything out of the ordinary. Well that is all you are dismissed."

The room emptied rather quickly, leaving only Jiraiya, Kakashi, Anko and the Hokage.

"So Kakashi, you should go t your students. I will be preparing to address them within a day or two. Get them to relax. Work through them as they get over their first kill, I doubt the short debriefing you gave them will be enough."

"And the sealings?"

"I'll send Jiraiya along to check on the cursed heaven seals as well as the Shiki Fuin on Naruto." Sarutobi replied while looking at Jiraiya, who gave a nod of confirmation that he would do it as soon as possible.

"Anko, I trust that you will not do anything rash?"

"I want…"

"That was both a request and an order, Anko. Actually it might benefit the boys if you talk to them at some point about the seal. Tell them how it works, what to expect you know the deal."

When both Kakashi and Anko had left the room Sarutobi looked at his student before speaking his mind.

"Jiraiya, I'm getting too old for this."

***********************************************************************************************************

Jiraiya had stayed true to his word and sealed both Naruto and Sasuke's seals, and in Naruto's case, rectified the Shiki Fuin.

_FLASHBACK_

"_I'm not gonna lie to you boys, this is gonna hurt."_

_Naruto and Sasuke both looked determined to see this through. They had prepared a room to perform the sealing; Sasuke was due to go first. Naruto waited outside as he heard his teammate scream in agony, the sealing process being too much for him to bear, he passed out at its conclusion to be carried out by Kakashi._

_It was another hour before the room was ready once again and Naruto entered. He saw kanji going in every direction from a centre point in the room with two concentric circles on the outside._

"_Naruto, strip to your boxers and sit in the centre of the circle at the point where the kanji originates." Jiraiya instructed. _

_Naruto took his place in the room and Jiraiya went through a long chain of hand seals. At the conclusion the kanji written around the room receded to for a circle around the two remaining tomoe of the seal. The pain was intense as the seal ran its course. When it was done, Naruto was conscious, though barely._

"_I know it's a lot to do in one hit, but it's better that I fix the seal on your stomach as well." Jiraiya said Naruto, who could only nod tiredly back in response._

_Jiraiya formed the necessary hand seals then plunges a hand covered in purple fire into the seal on Naruto's belly._

"_Gogyo Kaiin." Jiraiya intoned as he performed the technique._

_Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as the seal was rectified. Everything seemed normal until his body started radiating the vile chakra that was place into him by Orochimaru. He grabbed his neck where the seal was and started screaming again. The chakra started to pour out of his body until it slowly dissipated into nothing._

_When he let go Jiraiya took a look at the seal on his neck. It had changed once again. There was only one tomoe visible now and the seal Jiraiya had placed was completely removed._

'_I unsealed the extra seal on Rei's chakra. As soon as that happened it one more of the tomoe is destroyed. Perhaps she used her demonic chakra to force more of the tainted chakra out of his body. In any case, I can't perform the sealing again today. It will have to wait for a while, when he gets his strength back up. Otherwise he'll be unfit to finish the rest of the exams.' Jiraiya thought to himself. _

_He had just had a major breakthrough with the cursed heaven seal, albeit with some assistance. _

'_If it can be completely removed I think Anko would be the first in line to have it removed, despite the apparent pain. I just need to find what caused the first tomoe to be removed.'_

_FLASHBACK END_

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"I congratulate you all on making it this far. Before we go any further through these exams I feel it is necessary for you to know the true meaning of these exams." Sarutobi greeted the chuunin exam competitors.

"You mean a meaning besides advancement to chuunin?" The blonde girl from Suna, Temari asked.

"That is correct. These exams are designed to foster friendship between the nations. They are also used as a replacement for war. After the shinobi wars it was agreed by the kages of each elemental nation that the cost of war was far too high, so these exams were set up as a method for still playing out that battle, while minimising casualties and deaths. Make no mistake that while you may be here for personal reasons, your villages' pride and honour is on the line."

Sarutobi surveyed each of the genin, satisfied that they understood what was happening he proceeded with the next stage of the explanation.

"Before we continue to the next round…"

"Sorry for interrupting Hokage-sama, but would you mind if I did this part?"

"Not at all." The Hokage said, deferring to a man chewing on a senbon with a bandana on his head and a standard jounin vest on top of blue pants and long sleeved blue shirt.

"My name is Genma Shiranui, the proctor for the third exam. As it stands we have too many people that can enter the final round, so we have to cull numbers by holding an elimination round. Normally at this stage we would only need a one on one, nothing barred round to determine the people that pass on. However, due to the sheer number of participants, we have decided to run a series of battle royals."

"That's not fair. We all passed the exam so we should all go through." A random genin called out.

"The rules state that we may run a supplementary exam to cull numbers at any point through the exam. If you really feel that it is unfair, then make my job easier and quit. Actually I extend that offer to everybody. Is there any one that would like to quit?"

"I don't think I can compete any further." People looked to see where the voice came from; many of the rookies were surprised to see Kabuto as the owner of that voice.

"You may leave then." Genma said to Kabuto, who escorted himself out.

"The battles will be nine matches of 4 person battle royal, with the tenth match being a five person battle royal. The conditions are to be the last person standing at the battle's conclusion to win, nothing is barred, even killing though if I call a match, stop immediately or risk disqualification. Finally don't rely on my decision, if you feel you are outclassed, forfeit and live to see another day."

He turned to look at a screen that would decide the first four contestants' names. As he was waiting Kiba whispered to the rest.

"Is it me or does this village have something going for proctors with bandanas?"

***********************************************************************************************************

**END CHAPTER**

Right a few notes to dispense. The first is that I'm gonna take a break from writing for a while. The main reason is that Uni starts in less than nine hours and I can't afford to screw around this year so I will only be writing while on holidays.

Another reason is that with recent events in the manga (no I haven't read them, only heard about them) I lost some of my desire to write. I will of course continue this fic, though the updates will be very infrequent.

Finally a question…how long does a fic need to be before it can be classed as epic?


	10. Chapter 10

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 9**

Well I know I said that I wouldn't be updating through the uni period as I would have too much work to do, but I found myself with an evening free so I decided to write this.

I'm not sure if I will be able to update again through the uni semester as I get given one 3000 word essay per week which chews up most of my life (and then I have other subjects…I feel like crying when I write it like that).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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"How did you manage to sustain such brutal injuries?" Kabuto asked his master.

"It's of no great consequence, not so long as you hurry up and heal them. I just got a little careless." Orochimaru hissed back.

"Of no great consequence? You have 17 of 24 ribs broken or in some way damaged, your left arm is fractured and your liver looks like it's suffered a massive impact. If I was asked to guess I would have said you pick a fight with your ex-teammate and let her walk all over you." Kabuto told Orochimaru the extent of his injuries as he started to use the _shosen_ jutsu to heal the injuries.

"Fortunately no one is asking you to guess how I received my injuries, but there is someone ordering you to do your job. If you really must know, then that Kyuubi brat did this."

"He drew on the power of the Kyuubi then?" Kabuto surmised, awaiting confirmation.

"No, even better, he turned into a golden dragon." Kabuto thought his master had gone insane when he heard that.

"I…must have misheard, because I thought you sa…"

"You heard correctly, he turned into a dragon. Imagine the possibilities if it were genetic. I could breed him and have an army of dragons, perhaps with the curse seal." Orochimaru's eyes glazed as he envisaged that and many more things.

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Meanwhile back at the tower in the centre of the Forest of Death all eyes were trained on a giant electronic billboard that wall scrolling through the names of the contestants in the chuunin exam. The board stopped on four different names. Finally the random selection was complete and four names were displayed.

"Would Subaku no Gaara, Aiji Katagaki, Hideo Minori and Sumi Kanbasu please enter the ring?" Genma called to the nominated genin.

Aiji, from Ame, and Hideo from Kusa both entered the ring by vaulting over the side, Gaara disappeared and reappeared in a swirl of, looking utterly bored. Sumi, another Suna ninja had gone deathly pale. She looked from Gaara to the other contestants and then to Genma before announcing her decision.

"I wish to withdraw. I forfeit" Genma didn't pursue the matter but simply looked at her and gave a nod of acknowledgement before continuing with the first round.

"Very well, then let the match commence."

Aiji and Hideo were breathing hard; it was plainly obvious even to those viewing from far up above in the stands. Most just attributed it to being slightly anxious; the Suna nin knew the true reason.

Aiji and was looking at the other two contestants, sizing them up and trying to come up with a decent strategy that might let led him to victory; Hideo was doing much the same thing. However, it was Gaara that made the first move. The boy simply raised a clenched fist to shoulder height with a straight arm. All eyes were cautiously watching what he was about to do.

Gaara suddenly opened the clenched fist; at the same time both Hideo and Aiji fell to the ground screaming in pain gripping their lungs. Aiji had no idea what kind of jutsu this was but it was evident that Gaara was the originator; from his position on the floor he desperately threw a kunai at Gaara in the hopes of at least breaking his concentration and ending the jutsu. Everyone watched the flight of the kunai as Gaara did nothing to defend or evade, just as the kunai was expected to hit its mark, a wall of sand formed in front of Gaara and stopped the kunai cold, before dissipating and letting the kunai fall to the ground.

Hideo had realised what was happening, Gaara could somehow control the sand and was making it rip them apart from the inside out; now that he looked closely he could see the sand suspended in the air.

"I for…" he never got to finish the sentence as a sickening grin came across Gaara's face and made a violent sweep of his hand, causing the sand in both his opponents chest cavities to fly out. Their eyes widened, it would have been almost comical in any other context, this was just gruesome.

"He was about to forfeit, you could have let him live and the result would have still been the same; you moving on to the next round."

"He did not tender his forfeit early enough." Gaara replied in a monotone. Grudgingly Genma called the match in Garra's favour; up in the stands Gaara's teammate Kankuro could be heard making jokes.

"Well, just like they say; two types of ninja, the quick and the dead." He said with a smirk on his face.

Most chose to ignore his comment, while the teammates of the newly deceased glared at the boy, being kept in check by their respective senseis.

The arena was cleared and the next match was called. The names stopped and the contestant called forth.

"Would Subaku no Kankuro, Misumi Tsurugi, Dai Ando and Ryuuji Fujiwara please make their way down to the arena?"

Misumi, Dai and Ryuuji all vaulted over the railings of the stand, Kankuro simply walked down using the stairs, frustrating everyone no end with his snail's pace progress.

When he got to the fighting area, Misumi cast him a look of loathing for making him wait that long.

"Begin!" Hayate cried, Misumi wasted no time in charging Kankuro; apparently he was the type to hold a grudge and was in the process of dealing retribution. Everyone watched on as it seemed that Misumi was far too fast for Kankuro to evade; Misumi's arms lengthened to proportions that shouldn't be humanly possible, wrapping around Kankuro and constricting until a sickening crack was heard.

Everyone looked on in mild disgust at the ability, watching as Misumi released his hold over Kankuro, the boy's body falling to the ground dead.

"Shouldn'ta irritated me, idiot." Misumi said to Kankuro's dead form as he turned to the slightly pale remaining adversaries.

Ryuuji knew that he was at a severe disadvantage, he was from the Takigakure and many of his jutsu revolved around water usage. To use water jutsu right now he would need control as legendary as that of the Nidaime Hokage, in short his main arsenal had been removed. His taijutsu was not quite as good as his teammates' and he could only really use kunai and shuriken with any decent proficiency.

Misumi grew tired of waiting for his opponents to move so he started on the offensive once again. As they were standing in a slightly modified triangle formation, with Ryuuji and Dai standing closer to each other than either one was to him, he extended his arms and performed a sweeping motion, attempting to catch both his opponents in the manoeuvre. Dai reacted faster than Ryuuji and managed to evade, Ryuuji was caught in Misumi's iron grasp.

Misumi grinned sickly at Ryuuji. Misumi retracted the rest of his body to where his hands were situated, approaching Ryuuji at devastating speed, with no way to dodge and not enough time to form a jutsu, Misumi collided with Ryuuji with incredible force, sending him crashing into the wall behind and knocking him out.

"So, just you and me?" Dai muttered to Misumi.

"Appears so; wouldn't want to forfeit, could save your life." Misumi replied darkly, giving a small indication to Kankuro's dead body on the arena floor not far away.

"Not a chance." The Kumo nin responded as he drew eight kunai into his fingers.

He threw all eight kunai at once, Misumi easily dodged as he closed the gap between the two. What Misumi didn't realise was that Dai had put a very powerful negative charge into each of those kunai using some low level ration manipulation to affect the metal composing the kunai.

He tried to flick his hand to his kunai pouch, but had to change plans as Misumi lashed out with a long range back hand. He blocked the hit, but was too far away to counter. Misumi was doing nothing more than flailing his limbs in Dai's general direction, but if the dents that the hits were putting in the stone ground were any indication, style or not, those hits would hurt if they connected. He realised that if he went in too close then he would get wrapped up by his opponent and wind up dead from a broken neck.

Dai was dodging proficiently, but the ground around him was slowly losing its integrity as Misumi flailed his arms, not giving him the time to get to his kunai pouch. Suddenly Dai eyes widened as the ground under foot crumbled away, leaving him unable to dodge another hit, he was struck by Misumi and was sent to the floor some five meters back.

Misumi didn't have to wait to be told, he was already closing the gap, intent on finishing the match how it had started. His arms extended, aiming to wrap Dai up much like he had done to Kankuro. Dai managed to duck dodge and weave in and out of the seeking arms before he was finally caught.

The pain was evident in Dai's eyes as Misumi slowly began constricting the life out of him. Desperately he was reaching for his kunai pouch, struggling to hold on as he tried to gain the only thing that could save him. He felt his hand clasp over a shuriken an immediately started pumping positive ration chakra into it. From up above the crowd could see eight kunai starting to buck in their place on the ground or in the wall.

Everyone watched intently as the battle drew to its conclusion. For the second time in the course of the match a sickening crack could be heard as Misumi had broken his opponent's body. Unfortunately for Misumi, he had not done this fast enough and the technique Dai was trying to use took effect. Dai had pumped the eight original kunai so full of negative ration chakra that they couldn't help but be attracted to the kunai in Dai's hand charged with a very powerful positive current, the kunai in his had acting as a magnet for the rest.

Dai and Misumi had not changed orientation from when Dai threw the original eight so when the kunai came out of their moorings, they charged straight at the positively charge kunai in Dai's hand, right through Misumi who happened to be in the way. All eight pierced his chest cavity killing him almost instantly.

"Well this match is over. The result of the second preliminary..."

He stopped for a second as he though he swore he saw movement from Kankuro. Given a few more moments, Kankuro stood up and removed the package from his back, it unravelled to reveal another Kankuro with chakra strings attached to his fingers, a henge dispelled from the original revealing a puppet.

"The winner for the second preliminary is Subaku no Kankuro." Genma pronounced

Shikamaru had a smirk on his face.

"He won without doing a single thing? Now that's my kinda ninja." He mused, his friends shaking their heads.

A woman with blonde hair went down and collected Dai's body, sealing it into a scroll. When she walked past Naruto took more note as she walked past on her way back to what had to be her genin team. While her physical appearance was something to behold, a slender face, with beautiful eyes, it was her presence that Naruto noticed. It was again different from everybody else. It was like Gaara, but so very different at the same time.

'Rei-chan, what about you? Can you detect anything?' Naruto asked Rei, expecting her to sense the same thing as him.

'_Sorry Naruto-kun, she seems perfectly normal to me.' _Rei responded

Genma shook his head at the way the match had played out before turning to the giant board for the next set of competitors.

The board stopped flicking names and stopped on three familiar names

"Would Neji Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka and Rin Fuushi please enter the arena?" Genma's voice rang out.

It was set to be an interesting match, particularly for those watching from Konoha. Two of the three top graduating kunoichi from three most recent class would be battling. Added to that everyone was aware of the attempted kidnapping of Hinata when she was younger, while it was unlikely for such a kind person to hold grudges, it was also known that Neji had lost his father in the political furore that followed; and Neji was the kind of person to hold grudges.

All four were now present on the field so without any further delay, Genma started the third bout.

"Begin!" he called, leaping back out of the line of fire.

No sooner had the command been given, Ino and Rin had started forming hand seals.

"_Raiton: Raimari!" _Rin exclaimed

"_Fuuton_: _Daitoppa!" _Ino hollered

Rin had finished her hand seals first, but it made no difference as her lightning based jutsu was cancelled out midflight by Ino's wind based jutsu.

The attack was directed so that it would two of her three opponents, Neji and Sakura. Sakura had not expected the wind and was blown away and into the wall. Ino threw several kunai at Sakura; she was tempted to engage Neji in a taijutsu match, but had sparred enough with Hinata to know that she wouldn't have a ghost of a chance against such a talented taijutsu user, particularly as someone who relied more heavily on ninjutsu and genjutsu.

Sakura had regained her feet after a minor collision with the wall; she looked at Ino approaching Neji cautiously and saw the Kumo kunoichi going through more hand seals. She made her decision; if Ino was trying to engage Neji then she would take on the Kumo girl.

Neji saw Ino approaching and completely disregarded her. He turned to Rin who was going through more hand seals, activating his Byakugan and prepared a _jyuuken_ strike as he closed the gap between the two.

Seeing the gap being closed so rapidly, Rin realised that she would have to abandon her jutsu in preference of getting out of range of the strike that was coming. The abilities of the Byakugan and the style of the _jyuuken_ were well known throughout Kumo and it was a sore point with many of the older generations that they had been cheated out of a person with the Byakugan working when they requested the head of Hiashi Hyuuga in exchange for killing one of their own envoys that was participating in a treaty negotiation.

Ino was stumped; she was closing in on Neji, an obvious indication that she was going to engage, when he turned around and attacked a different opponent who was far further away.

Sakura had finished going through hand seals and had announced her jutsu

"_Ninpo: dokugiri no jutsu!" _no sooner had she said the words, she had belched a great blackish purple cloud of noxious gas. She wasn't hoping to have to use this jutsu so early in the chuunin exams, hopefully keeping it for the final matches, but against an opponent like Neji there was no choice but to go full throttle from the go.

She was silently thankful that Megumi-sensei not only made her understand the extraction of poison from the body, but the production of it as well.

The cloud raced towards her opponents, Ino and Neji managed to avoid, but Rin who was in midair had no hope as she was in the middle of backpedalling from Neji's oncoming taijutsu assault. The cloud hit and a short moment later Rin emerged looking exceedingly pale.

Neji was furious, there was no way on this earth that some other no-name genin was going to detract from his vengeance against those that took his father away from him. He coated his hand in chakra and surged forwards, intending to land a lethal blow, to be the one that finished the girl. While the poison was slow and more painful, it was also treatable, he would finish it.

Rin saw her danger, but was in no position to dodge, her lungs were burning and her muscle screamed at every movement. She resigned herself to was to come. If she was lucky she would still come out of this fight with her life intact.

Neji's hand was inches from the girl's hear when his hand stopped dead in the air. The jounin sensei for the Kumo team had stopped his hand midstrike.

"Forgive me proctor-san," she said turning to Genma "I've already lost one student today; I will not lose a second. My student will forfeit and seek medical attention for the poisoning." She continued, ignoring Neji's look of pure rage at being denied his revenge.

Genma nodded before making the announcement, "Rin Fuushi is disqualified for outside assistance. The match will continue."

Up in the stands Gai Maito was shaking his head in disappointment, he hadn't thought that he needn't to tell one of his students to keep their cool, least of all a Hyuuga who prided themselves on being stoic and holding a proper image. More disappointing was to take all his rage out on an innocent that had nothing to do with any of the pain that Neji felt.

Down in the arena Neji was practically shaking with rage, realistically it was only his hands that were trembling, but to those that knew his well enough knew that it was more than just that. Neji prided himself on being calm and collected in battle, using taunts to get under his opponents skin. When annoyed in training, his attacking still had all the composure that it normally would; the attacks themselves were far more relentless and unforgiving. For any _jyuuken_ user not to pull their punches it usually meant death for the adversary.

The look he fixed upon Sakura was one of pure loathing. She had taken away his revenge, his form of justice and now he was going to make her pay for denying him.

Sakura realised her trouble when Neji started bearing down on her, she only had a moment to look at Ino before both their minds were made up; if they wanted to survive this they had to work together. They were not Konoha nin any more, not to Neji anyway, they were nothing more than targets to be eliminated.

Sakura was going through her options, genjutsu would be practically useless against the Byakugan and taijutsu was practically suicidal on her own. Their only true hope lay in ninjutsu.

"_Ninpo: dokugiri no jutsu!" S_akura called, it was only supposed to slow Neji down, not actually hit.

Ino had other ideas though as she watched Neji navigate around the smog. She countered his movement till they were on opposite sides of the cloud, Ino already going through hand seals.

"_Fuuton: Daitoppa!" _Ino grinned as she watch the cloud change its course and head for Neji, Sakura was racing around to where Ino was now hoping to catch the tail of her wind based jutsu.

"_Katon: endan!" _She exclaimed, performing a much weaker version of the Uchiha signature jutsu '_dai endan'._ She got the effect that he wanted and the fire was caught in the end of the wind jutsu, increasing its power slightly.

The paired jutsu were flying towards the giant cloud of toxic gas, as soon as it had touched the cloud itself caught ablaze.

Up in the stand Naruto and Sasuke were wide eyed for two reasons. The first was that Sakura knew such an awesome jutsu, the second, that combo was awesome. When she was back on the team with them they would be able to get Sakura to use _dokugiri_, Sasuke could use any one of the _katon _jutsu at his disposal and Naruto could easily use _daitoppa _being a wind type.

The spectators didn't have to wait long as there was a change in the formation of the jutsu almost as instantly as it had been set alight. The fire was spinning into a vortex.

Everyone heard Hinata gasp as she realised the technique Neji had used as they watched the inferno that was the poisonous cloud slowly dissipate.

"_Kaiten." _She breathed.

"What? You know that jutsu Hinata?" Kiba asked, not fully understanding the predicament that Sakura and Ino were in.

"_Kaiten."_ Hinata repeated, "It's one of the most prized techniques taught only to members of the main branch, and even then they may be unwilling. Branch clan members aren't even allowed to access the section of the library that that technique is kept in."

"What's so special about it?" Misao asked

"It involves precise chakra control and being able to release chakra from every tenketsu in the body while spinning. It creates a dome of chakra that deflects practically any attack."

Down on the competition arena the three combatants all heard Hinata's explanation.

"You heard what Hinata-sama said. Knowing this will you still fight? Will you still fight a fight that you know that you can't win, trying to struggle against the destiny laid before you?"

Ino snorted, while it wasn't the most lady-like reaction, it certainly summed up what she and many others in the room felt at the moment.

"There is no such thing as destiny; there is only what you make happen yourself."

Up in the stands, Naruto was listening very intently.

'If only you knew Ino, sometimes there is such a things destiny." Naruto thought as he thought of his immortality.

'_That is not true and you know it.' _Rei practically growled.

'How so, I'm immortal? I don't even share the same fate that the rest of these people do, where they will die, I will keep on living.'

'_Don't tell me you agree. Surely you haven't forgotten that there is always a way out.'_

'There _is not _a way out for me. I can't grow old and I can't die a mortal death.'

'_Then don't die a mortal death. Die an immortal one. You can still summon the Shinigami and end your life that way. The prospect is not great and I wouldn't have you do it, but remember, you always have the power to change your life at least in that method.'_ Rei started out ferociously, becoming softer as she continued.

'...Thank you...' It wasn't everything that he wanted to say, but he felt that it summed everything up best and he knew that Rei would understand.

Down on the arena floor Neji was finishing his own monologue about how destiny really does exist, explaining the cruel practice of the Caged Bird Seal that the Hyuuga employed to keep the branch members of their clan subdued.

All three competitors settle into a fighting stance, while it was supposed to be a battle royal, it seemed that Ino and Sakura had formed an alliance, defending themselves against Neji.

It would likely be the last bout as many expected Neji to triumph despite the two on odds.

Ino smiled as she got an idea, the Byakugan was a dojutsu that allowed the user to see chakra in all its form, knowing this she decided to use that great advantage against Neji.

Neji saw her forming hand seals, "It's useless, I can negate any jutsu you use."

Ino simply smiled as she announced her jutsu "_Fuuton: daitoppa!"_

The first time Ino had used it Neji didn't have his Byakugan active, this time he did and just for extra measure she pumped a little extra chakra into the technique. The result was that Neji had a chakra rich wind directed straight at him, blinding him momentarily as all he could see was the chakra in the wind.

Ino wasted no time in moving to her next technique.

"_Doton: shinju zanshu no jutsu." _ She whispered, trying to give Neji as little indication as possible about the plan of action.

When Neji had regained his sight He saw three kunai sailing at him, one aimed at his head, one at his stomach and another at his groin, he also had a moment to notice that Ino was missing. The kunai were no more troubling that a mosquito, but Ino was nowhere to be seen even with the Byakugan.

'Underground!' Neji thought to himself, almost furiously for taking that long to work it out.

He started his technique immediately, the _kaiten_ simply deflecting the kunai.

Ino had planned this, even if she couldn't approach from above ground, the ground underneath Neji was completely untouched by his jutsu, once inside that protective shell she could grab him and pull him down to his head as she had seen Kakashi-sensei do to any of the boys once they got too cocky.

She reached up though the ground to grab onto Neji's leg and regretted is almost immediately.

"AARRGGHH" despite being underground the sound was still amazingly loud.

The hand was retracted immediately. The jutsu ended and Ino came up a short distance away nursing a hand that looked as though it had had a disc sander applied to it. Her left hand was devoid of any skin, tendons and even bone in one or two given places could be seen.

"The _kaiten_ is a constant application of chakra. Even if you got inside the shell itself, you still had total with the chakra that I emit from my body that is constantly rotating."

Neji broke into a run before Ino had the chance to move, still nursing her heavily damaged hand many went wide eyed as they saw the strike he was aiming to perform. His hand stopped just inches away from Ino's heart; he stopped and turned to Genma. Genma nodded and acknowledged that the hit would have been potentially fatal if it had connected.

"Ino Yamanaka is hereby removed from the battle." Those who knew Ino well enough knew that the look of pain was not from the pain in her hand, but the disappointment in herself.

Neji turned his attention to Sakura, his eyes held nothing, they were dead, a look that he would only reserve for an enemy out on a mission.

"You should not have interfered." Was the only exchange between them, he darted forwards, determined not simply to end the match, but to make Sakura suffer for her interference with his revenge.

Sakura could only dodge and hope to counter as Neji lashed his at him.

Neji was using straight out thrusting motions to attack Sakura most thinking he was aiming for the tenketsu. Though Sakura could not see the tenketsu herself, she had a fairly good understanding of where most of them lay as well as any other notable features though her studies with Megumi. Neji wasn't just aiming to defeat her, his tactics; the targets he had selected could maim her.

Many watched as Sakura nimbly dodged the blows, against any other male opponent (except for perhaps Misumi Tsurugi) she would have had more of a chance to counter as she would have been faster and more nimble on her feet. Unfortunately for Sakura her opponent was Neji Hyuuga, trained in a style that required both great dexterity as well as rapid motions.

Neji changed tactics in an instant and launched a simple upper cut to the solar plexus when Sakura presented an opening. Sakura, so concentrated on protecting the extremities that Neji seemed to be aiming for that she left her core practically unguarded, something that she would regret dearly.

It was all the opening that Neji needed, his hands coated with chakra, he thrust four very sharp jabs into Sakura's elbow joints as well as her knees. As soon as her knee joints had been hit Sakura collapsed under her own weight.

Up in the stands, Hinata gasped for the second time in that match.

Try as she may, Sakura could not stand; her arms and legs could do little more than flail feebly. No one but Hinata had realised what Neji had done. How could they? It required Hyuuga eyes to see. Neji had put far more chakra into the blow than was necessary.

"The winner of the thirds round is Neji Hyuuga." Genma announced

She quickly vaulted over the edge of the viewing area to where Sakura lay. She examined Sakura as he medics simply tried to get her into a stretcher, expecting her to make a full recovery from a simple _jyuuken_ strike.

"That was completely unnecessary." She practically growled as she glared at Neji.

Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto heard the comment but had no idea what she meant.

"Hinata, it was a simple _jyuuken_ strike, I've seen you strike in those zone through training and very one has always been fine." Kakashi said, trying to appease the apparently infuriated girl. It was one thing to see any of the other girls angry, but for calm, kind Hinata it was beyond unusual.

"No, I reduce the amount of chakra when I aim for those areas. He increased it. Those four points are the largest tenketsu in the body, the only place with more chakra is the reserve pool, where all the body's chakra flows from. They are vital because tied in close with those tenketsu are major nerve pathways. He didn't just shut down the chakra network he severely damaged the underlying nerves. It'll take a miracle for Sakura to walk again, let alone run or do anything that is required of a ninja."

Recognition swept across Kakashi's face a moment before Hinata had spelled it out for the group. I t was fortunate for this as he was required to jump down into the competition arena to stop Naruto and Sasuke from doing anything too foolish. Asuma had jumped down as well, taking Naruto while Kakashi took hold of Sasuke.

Through Asuma's arms Naruto yelled at Neji.

"You could have just ended that by knocking her out. What did you prove by doing that?"

"That she was never fated to be a decent ninja. She had no chance, she never came from a clan, didn't have any skills that lent itself to victory in battle, she could have never won in the first place. I was only reminding her of her place."

Up in the stands Tenten, Neji's teammate, looked like she had been physically hurt her by her teammate's words, not coming from a ninja clan herself. In all of this Hinata appeared to be the most furious.

"What you have done won't be easily forgiven _nii-san._" Hinata said with as much contempt as she could muster.

By this stage Gai Maito had joined the convention, moving towards Kakashi.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry. The blame rests with me for not being a better sensei and correcting Neji's incorrect mentality." Gai offered Kakashi, bitter disappointment in his student and himself evident in his voice.

Kakashi simply remained silent, not trusting himself to respond. Kakashi wasn't the only jounin to feel some resentment towards Neji Hyuuga. Even though Sakura was officially listed as under Kakashi's tutelage for major mission, it didn't stop the feeling of loss welling in the remaining jounin sensei that had taught Sakura.

Genma cleared his throat.

"As important as this is, could we please return to the stands, I have the remainder of the fights to continue with."

With that the group cleared off the competition floor and went back to the stands. Many of the Konoha nin glaring at Neji, including one of his own teammates, while the other just looked disappointed.

Genma had turned his attention back to the giant electronic board, now flicking through the different names. The board stopped and he made his announcement.

"Would Hisa Haiboruto, Shinobu Mayasaki, Aoto Miyake and Nagi Nakamura please make their way to the ground level." Genma called. As their name was called out, each nin; one each from Kumo, Taki, Ame and Kusa began to move.

Once all four had arrived by jumping over the railing Genma started the match.

"Begin!" He hollered before jumping back.

The match held no real interest for the observers from Konoha and the result was a swift victory for Hisa from Kumo through vast use of a large repertoire of _raiton _jutsu.

The floor had been cleared, and the board was once again scrolling through names.

"Shikamaru Nara, Kin Tsuchi, Otoya Kawano and Sachio Matsuo please head down to the arena.

Much like Kankuro had done, Shikamaru simply strolled down the stairs, aggravating his opponents in the process.

"Begin!" Genma announced to the genin hopefuls as soon as Shikamaru was in a ready position.

It would have taken extremely keen eyes to notice the small hand flick that Kin performed as soon as Genma gave the command. In fact it would have taken fine eyes just to see that she had indeed done so after the starting command as both Otoya and Sachio slumped to the floor, she had pierced the neck at one of the jugular vein pressure points with senbon needles causing both boys to fall unconscious almost instantly. Shikamaru _had_ noticed the fine movements and simply moved his neck out of the line of fire.

Shikamaru nodded at her ability with the weapon and made sure not to get pinned by them.

"You had to be difficult didn't you?" Kin groused at Shikamaru, who only replied with a grin.

Shikamaru took out six kunai and placed them in between his fingers on each hand. He threw them one aimed at Kin, the other five completely missing. As there was such a large gap between the kunai, Kin decided to dodge the kunai instead of block them. She tried to move her hand to her kunai pouch, but found her movement restricted. She looked at the ground to see her shadow connected with Shikamaru's; with his shadow split into two more slithers aside from the once connecting themselves. Then she realised that whatever her opponent did, she mimicked.

"What's the point? Now whatever you do to me you do to yourself." She said to Shikamaru.

"Can't you just be quiet when you're about to be defeated? One of the major drawbacks of this jutsu I suppose, the victim can still use their mouth, otherwise I'd have it active on Ino practically 24-7."

"You wait till you get back up here you lazy baka!" Ino an indignant Ino called back.

"In any case, I threw the kunai as a distraction, I sent my shadows along with the shadow of the kunai and you happened to dodge the kunai. It was never the plan to hit you with those kunai, just to distract you to capture your shadow. The thing is, I sent a shadow along with the other kunai as well. My father doesn't need anything to do that, guess I still got a little way to go."

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder so Kin could see behind herself and look at what the other two shadows were attached to. She saw the two boys that she had knocked out in the first moments of the fight back on their feet. They were still very much unconscious, but somehow Shikamaru's jutsu had brought them back upright in order to mimic his movements. Shikamaru turned right around and walked away from Kin, making her walk to the slightly slack, unconscious forms of Sachio and Otoya. When Shikamaru thought that his three opponents were close enough he drew a kunai making his captives do the same.

He raised the kunai to neck height before speaking again.

"You know, you can still use your voice." Shikamaru reminded her.

Kin caught on quick. He was telling her to forfeit, she had two kunai at her throat and there was nothing she could do about it.

"I yield!"

"The winner of the fourth match is Shikamaru Nara." Genma made the official all.

Shikamaru released the jutsu; returning to the stands where he was promptly smacked upside by Ino.

"Baka!" was the only thing she said as she turned to see the board scrolling through more names as Sachio and Otoya were both removed so they could regain consciousness. Shikamaru could be heard muttering darkly about troublesome women.

"The next match will be between Subaku no Temari, Tenten Higurashi and Misao Makimachi."

"I thought that there was going to be all four person battle royals except for the last match of five." The sensei from Kumo asked.

"No idea, I just call the contestants as the board presents them. We'll have to wait and see what it coughs up for the remaining matches." Genma replied patiently.

The match up was poor for both Misao and Tenten, both of whom specialised in ranged throwing weapons. Fortunately for Misao she managed a slightly better showing than Tenten as she had one or two minor jutsu that aided her somewhat. It wasn't enough to overcome the older and more experienced Suna nin as she blew every projectile off course, had an answer for every jutsu and kept them at a distance, preventing them from engaging in taijutsu with powerful blasts of wind from the fan that she usually kept attached to her back.

"The winner for this round is Subaku no Temari." Temari smirked at the announcement before making her way back to the viewing area.

Every one waited for the board to display the names of the next set of combatants. Before Genma had even made an announcement one of the competitors had vaulted over the railing when the board came to a rest at his name. The other two followed suit, not bothering to wait for Genma to call on them.

Rock Lee, Dosu Kinuta and Tsubu Hada, another Suna ninja were already and waiting for the signal to go. It didn't take long to arrive, but for Lee any waiting was too much as he was practically bouncing in anticipation. Tsubu was getting increasingly more distracted by Lee, whether it was because of his peculiar behaviour or due to his horrid sense of fashion nobody could tell.

"Begin!"

Lee disappeared in a shot only to reappear where Dosu was originally standing, his fist extended. Dosu was flying towards a wall at incredible pace, colliding with it and knocking him out almost instantly.

"POWER OF YOUTH!"Lee shouted. Tenten had seen the effect of alcohol on her green clad teammate and had to wonder if this was the effect of another drug, perhaps caffeine.

Tsubu was officially freaked. A spandex wearing mini-me was shouting at the top of his lungs about the 'power of youth', not to mention that it appeared that he had caterpillars for eyebrows and that hair cut, it just sent chills up his spine.

"Lee, show him secret taijutsu technique number 13."

"YOSH! Lucky number 13, Sensei? Then you'll let me use it?"

"Only this once." Gai said solemnly.

A grin came across Lee's face that seemed to indicate that Christmas had come early. Prepare yourself for one of my most formidable techniques. Tsubu was practically at his breaking point, but did his best to prepare himself for whatever onslaught was about to come.

Suddenly an image of a beach at sunset appeared behind Tsubu. Many who trained with Lee and Gai recognised the technique already. Lee started prancing to Tsubu as a look of abject horror came across his face not knowing what to expect.

"Tsubu!" Lee cried out happily as he crushed his opponent in a hug that was normally reserved for his role model, Gai.

Tsubu gagged.

"Tsubu!"

Tsubu gagged even harder, many were unsure if it was because of Lee's insane grip or whether it was because he was in such close proximity to something so horrid as Lee's eyebrows and spandex suit.

"Tsubu!"

This time Tsubu practically vomited.

In a corner Kurenai was practically in tears, a genin with absolutely no talent in the areas of nin or genjutsu had somehow created an image that could not be dispelled like any method of genjutsu disruption know to a genjutsu mistress.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!‼‼‼‼" Poor Tsubu had finally snapped. He was bent over, grabbing his head, apparently he could not handle all of Lee's 'youth'.

"After most unorthodox tactics I recognise that Tsubu Hada is no longer fit to fight."

'Or open doors.' Genma thought to himself.

"I call this match in favour of Rock Lee."

"YOSH! I'M THROUGH TO THE FINAL ROUND."

Genma shook his head as he turned back to the board, deciding to put the ridiculous match behind him.

"The next match will be between Shino Aburame, Zaku Abumi and Take Yamashita." Each genin moved to join Genma on the competition floor as their name was announced.

"Begin!" The command was acted upon almost immediately.

Zaku raised his hands and used a jutsu, blasting pressurised air at both of his opponents.

"_Zankuha._" He announced, air discharging from the small holes in his hands.

Both Shino and Take dodged to the sides away from one another. Take removed some shuriken from his holster and let loose at both Shino and Zaku. Zaku feeling confident chose to blast the kunai out of the air, while using his other arm to blast at Take, not even considering the almost stationary Shino, who had only moved twice since the battle and only to dodge an attack.

Take smiled at Zaku's choice of action, he had hoped that he would remain stationary; despite out ward appearances Take was quite fast. His bulky build fooled most into thinking that they would have a speed advantage over the boy.

Zaku realised that he would not have a chance to build the necessary chakra for another blast after missing take, he prepared for a taijutsu battle. Take came at him hard with a straight out left jab; it was parried by Zaku, who then tried to use a counter punch to the now exposed ribs. Take twisted out of the blow, using the rotation to send a round house kick at Zaku's head. The kick was ducked under as Zaku attempted to sweep Take's legs from under him.

All throughout the exchange both boys were keeping an eye on Shino, who was completely stationary. Shino's face betrayed nothing of what he was planning. While being able to fight your way out of tight situations was indeed valuable, the Aburame valued being able to avoid such situations in the first place. Shinobi like Kankuro and Shikamaru would forever hold his respect for only using a few jutsu to beat their opponents, using their intellect instead of outright power.

Those in the stands were also having a hard time understanding Shino's reluctance for battle. Only those with sharp eyes could pick the little bits of the ground steadily marching towards Shino's two opponents, currently locked into a fierce taijutsu battle.

Take had noticed that his movements were getting a little sluggish. It was taking more and more effort to lift his limbs. He had also noticed the slowing of Zaku's movements. Zaku threw one too many a sloppy punch and with a true effort, Take turned the punch against him and threw him to the floor a small distance away. Zaku hit the hard floor and he got a clear view of ground level; what he saw had him absolutely freaked. There were thousands of small bugs swarming around him and Take. He jumped up, the movement taking far more energy than it should have.

"You were taking so much notice of me and Take that you failed to notice the growing army of kikai surrounding you." Shino informed monotonously, while he stopped a short way from Zaku.

Take was looking around himself; he was an island in a black sea of kikai bugs.

"Go!" Shino directed the bugs.

They swarmed Take first, covering his body, draining the remainder of his chakra in seconds; all the while Take was screaming in agony as some bugs ate more than just his chakra. Zaku held up his hands, one facing Shino, the other facing the swarm of kikai.

"You were good, but you can't dodge from here." Zaku said with a fierce grin on his face.

He forced chakra through his hands, but nothing happened. He forced more through, his arms started to bulge before being blown off at the elbow joints, apparently where the holes started. Many in the crowd winced at the scene.

"When you were thrown to the floor, some of my kikai took the opportunity to creep into those holes in your arms. It appears is that those holes are directly infused to two of your major tenketsu." He informed, not even stopping to check if Zaku was listening

"Once they were in there the chakra had no way to escape. The first time they managed to eat all the chakra you pumped in there, but the second time you pumped chakra in at a rate far higher than they could consume, so with no proper outlet, your chakra created one."

"The winner is Shino Aburame." Genma mad the victory official as Take's sensei came and gave him a chakra pill while the medics tended to Zaku; two picking up the boy on a stretcher, while a third collected the arms that had landed a few metres away.

"The next match will be between Hinata Hyuuga, Ami Tanaka and Kyouritsu Tada."

Most had not realised that the board was running through name selections again as they were observing the clean up from the previous match.

Kyouritsu, a boy from Kusagakure, and Ami both vaulted over the railings. Hinata being a slightly more conservative person, took the stairs, though having the consideration not to take as long as either Shikamaru or Kankuro.

Genma looked between the three combatants, determined that they were ready and gave the call.

"Begin!"

Hinata activated her _Byakugan_ while Ami drew a pair of tonfa that were holstered on her belt.

All three regarded each other carefully. Kyouritsu must not have fully understood the implications of the Byakugan and the _jyuuken_ fighting style as he rushed Hinata, evidently thinking that a person that was using taijutsu was less dangerous than a person using weapons.

For Hinata, his movements made his intentions painfully obvious; he may as well have been announcing his attacks before he executed them. She only had to wait for him to strike before evading and gripping his arm. Just as she was about to deaden the sensation in the boy's arm, she let got just as a tonfa passed right through the space that her arm originally occupied.

Ami wasn't going to allow Kyouritsu to be taken out of the fight that easily. He would have survived Hinata's strike, but would have been easy pickings for either one of them as the fight progressed. He seemed more interested in attacking Hinata than Ami so having him in the fight for the moment was beneficial, because the moment Hinata gave Ami her undivided attention was the moment Ami would start losing the battle.

"Man this is so awesome!" Kyouritsu said enthusiastically. "Once girl, desperately trying get here hands on me, the other valiantly defending me so I can help in whatever way possible!"

"O…k…I think he's slightly touched in the head." Temari said up in the stand, many just sweat dropped.

"It's like it's something straight out of Icha Icha." He said in an almost longing voice.

This simple sentence had a profound effect, many of the genin boys in the audience paled, knowing Ami's fierce hate of the book. Kurenai could be seen glaring at Kakashi who was trying to plead his case of not knowing the boy from a slice of bread. Gaara broke the almost stagnant silence.

"There is going to be blood soon, mother can sense it." Nobody doubted him.

"Could we please resume the match?"

Hinata raced, Kyouritsu was still slightly distracted by whatever musings were going on in his head. He snapped to attention at the very last second dodging with only a hair's breadth to spare.

"She pursues me so vigorously, she must be attracted. Ami was so…she didn't know what she was but it wasn't helping her fight. She quickly came to Kyouritsu's aid, forcing Hinata to go on the defensive then staggering her attack with the Kusa boy so Hinata wouldn't have the chance to counter.

"It's so tempting to just give in, to allow the blue haired maiden to have her wicked way with me, allow her to catch me and do with me as she pleases, but where would that leave my violet haired mistress? And me thinks it is far more fun to play hard to get."

Hinata was blushing at his insinuations, Ami was dumbfounded.

"This would be so much more interesting if he could actually come out with something better than this garbage. Even the stuff the cyclops reads is better than this." Anko was growling.

"Hey, I pretty much stopped reading when Naruto came into my life." Kakashi defended himself

"You still read, Kakashi, you always will. That's why you're always gonna be a mild pervert in my books." Kurenai responded.

Kyouritsu was deliberately being perverted in hopes of distracting his opponents. Unfortunately it was getting him nowhere: sadly he wasn't intelligent enough to recognise this. Ami was now seriously debating if she should just take the idiot out herself so she wouldn't have to deal with his stupid ramblings and try to take Hinata on her own.

Hinata changed tactics she rushed Ami, careful to dodge several side tonfa strikes from Ami's left hand then having to dodge a thrust with the short head of the right hand tonfa.

"Now she tries to remove her competition for my body, just how far will the blue haired maiden go. Fortunately the violet haired mistress can hold her own." Kyouritsu continue with his absolutely pointless tactics.

"Perhaps I should stop their epic battle, I'm sure that I could convince them that there is more than enough for me to go around."

And boldly he went fourth into their melee and grabbed each of their hands. He drew their hands close before kissing their hands, then roughly tugging them until he had an arm around each of their bodies, his hand coming to a rest on each of their derrières.

Hinata and Ami both went bright red, Kurenai looked livid, though Anko was smirking; apparently she had an inkling of what was to com. All of Hinata and Ami's male friends went deathly pale and said a solemn prayer for the foolish boy.

Kyouritsu misinterpreted their red faces "Don't be embarrassed, this is just my way of showing that I care."

Before he could blink, Kyouritsu**'**s head was trapped between Ami's right arm and the long tail of her tonfa, her left arm securing it in place, leaving him at her mercy; she could easily snap his neck from this position.

"And this is me showing you that your advance was extremely unwanted." Ami said in barely above a whisper, "Is there anything you wanted to add Hinata?" She asked sweetly.

Hinata nodded then approached.

"You know that the Byakugan is useful for damaging _soft _tissue aboveall else. I can remove the chakra pathway to your softest tissue if you'd like." The offer sounded genuine to.

"No, what do you want, say it and I'll do it, just not that."

"Then forfeit."

"I forfeit." The words were rushed, stumbled out as though his very life depended on it. And to an extend it did with the way Ami was positioned. More pressingly on his mind was the service Hinata had offered.

"I think the girls have been spending too much time with Anko-sensei." Sai said as he watched the remainder of the match unfold.

"What was that, Sai-_kun?"_ Anko inquired.

"N-nothing, never mind"

"I thought so." Anko said.

Back down on the arena floor Ami smiled at Hinata.

"Ami?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Sorry about this." Hinata's chakra laced fingers were centimetres away from Ami's heart, she had used the opportunity to get close to her opponent and then put them in a compromising situation.

Ami nodded in defeat.

"The winner of the ninth match is Hinata Hyuuga."

Before the combatants had even started their trip back to the stands the next round selection was being made. By the time they rejoined with their teams the next combatants had been announced.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Yoroi Akado, Iya Sakui and Aoru Otome."

"Proctor-san, there isn't, like, a penalty for my teammates if I, like, quit now is there?"

"No, the rest is individual, but you will give up the chance to be considered as a chuunin." Genma replied, not sure if the kunoichi-wanna be actually understood the purpose of the exam.

"Like, not thanks, who wants to be a chuunin anyway? I've got more important things to worry about! Just look at my hair after that ordeal in the forest for death, it'll never be the same! And the state of my beautiful fingernails…"

"Man that is so sad. It's idiot like them that give proper kunoichi a bad name." Kurenai muttered, meanwhile Ino and Sakura both shuddered at the thought of them possibly being like that if Sasuke hadn't changed, and then the rest of the group with him.

"So Aoro Otome from Kusagakure has forfeited the match. Would the remaining competitors please come down?"

Sasuke, Yoroi and Iya entered the combat area, all three surprising everyone and using the stairs.

"Begin!" Genma's voice rang through the room.

The fight was short lived. As soon as the command was given Sasuke opened with a flurry of shuriken. Tied to each was a thin trail of ninja wire. His two opponents let the shuriken past before realising the mistake. By the time they saw the wire it was too late and they were tied together. Blurring through hand seals, Sasuke announce his jutsu.

"_Katon: dai endan!"_

The jutsu passed harmlessly over head, doing only superficial damage. It singed both Iya and Yoroi's hair off as well as Yoroi's mask revealing very bad case of acne. While the jutsu had missed the evidence was there, if Sasuke wanted to the pair would be dead, the fact that they had their hair damaged meant that they couldn't do anything about getting out of the way.

"The winner of the tenth match; Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma pronounce, with Sasuke allowing himself a small smirk.

"Well, seeing as there are only four combatants remaining, I won't bother going to the board. Will Kiba Inuzuka, Chouji Akimichi, Sai Komatsu and Naruto Uzumaki please join me for the final round?" Genma announced almost tiredly.

"So the old crew, hey?" Kiba snickered.

"Feels like were competing for the practical section for rookie of the year all over again." Sai admitted.

"Enough with the reminiscing if you don't mind…begin!" Genma gave the all clear and three of four burst into action.

Sai used his _sumi bunshin_, while Chouji was part way through a _baika jutsu. _Kibahad fed Akamaru a soldier pill and had used _jujin bunshin_ to make him into a more feral self, while making Akamaru more humanoid. Naruto remained completely still.

"What? You're not even gonna try and beat us? You're gonna let us walk all over you?" Kiba asked, almost laughing at how easily it was gonna be to knock Naruto out of the comp. Naruto grinned back.

"Watch closely." he ordered. "_Kage bunshin no jutsu."_

The newly formed bunshin walked over to a nearby wall with no one nearby or above it, Naruto practically ran to the other side of the room as far away as possible from the bunshin or his opponents.

"_Bunshin bakuretsu no jutsu!"_ he announced. The bunshin detonated, leaving a 10 m hole in the wall. Many in the room went pale, those that knew Naruto better realised how much trouble they were in.

"When did you teach him that?" Anko demanded of Kakashi.

"I never did, this is the first I've seen him use it. Though he did steal the forbidden scroll, remember?" Kakashi said in a low voice so that Anko could hear.

A look of understanding swept over her face before returning her attention to the match.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu_!" Naruto announced for thesecond time in the match, this time the whole arena was filled with Naruto clones. There wasn't two metre of free space without a Naruto clone.

"Well done, Naruto. But how do you plan on surviving this as well? You'll get caught in the blast as well."

Naruto smirked at Sai, before poofing out of existence.

Once of the clones nearest to Kiba spoke.

"Did you really think that the boss was dumb enough to get caught in his own justu?

"There isn't anything out here but _kage bunshins,_ but you can take the risk, you won't be killed, but it will definitely hurt like hell."

"Sorry I can't allow that. You detonate all these clones and someone in the stands is likely to get hurt, _that_ is against the rules. Dispel these clones safely and we can continue the match." As Genma spoke Sai, Kiba and Chouji all let out a sigh of relief.

All the clones dispelled, but when they were gone there wasn't a Naruto left on the field.

Kakashi smiled, unlike the rest, who had focussed on Naruto's clone as it blew a hole in the wall, he watched both. He and of course Genma, who was required to watch all aspects of the battle had seen Naruto do a quick henge as the clone blew up the wall. He was now sitting pretty as a rock that looked as though it had been left from the damage of a previous battle.

"That can't be legal!" Kiba whined.

"Actually it is," Genma affirmed "you'll just have to wait for him to reappear."

With nothing they could do about it the boys continued their match. All still having their initial jutsu in effect they started to attack.

"G_atsuga!" _Kiba called, spinning around so fast that it looked as though he were a horizontal mini tornado. Sai's _sumi bunshin_ was destroyed in the attack, but Kiba bounced right off of Chouji, who was rolling around the arena at outrageous speeds. He was heading for Sai, who nimbly dodge out of the way, Chouji used the wall like a metal ball does a bumper in a pinball machine, he bounced of it and changed direction far faster than many though possible.

Sai only was regarding his options and as it stood he could only see one open to him at this very moment. The s_umi bunshin_ was not suitable and he had not yet perfected the _chō giga. _Just as Chouji missed Kiba and tried to bounce off another wall, he drew three ink pots from his pouch and launched them at Chouji and Kiba. While they were still flying he used the most basic of fire jutsu.

"_Katon: endan!"_

It was a little known property of the ink that he used that upon heating it expanded to ridiculous proportions, however this want the most interesting thing. When the ink cooled down it set rock hard.

Kiba and Akamaru were in the middle of dodging and Chouji was in no state to dodge without the use of a wall, so both were covered by the attack. The ink cooled quickly and it set so hard that both Kiba and Akamaru were completely immobile. Chouji didn't fare much better, despite his size it had him glued to the wall that he was about to bounce off of.

Anko had expected as much, he had used the

"OK Naruto, you can come out now. The other two can't do anything!" Sai called out to Naruto; little did he know that Naruto was literally right next to him in the form of a rock.

Naruto ended the transformation and swiftly detached one of the chakra bracers Hiko had given him. He forced it onto Sai's arm before pumping it with as much chakra as he could, making it far heavier. The weight was too much for Sai and he was dragged to the floor by his arm.

Genma observed all four combatants; Naruto was the only one capable for free movement so he called the match.

"The winner for the final match is Naruto Uzumaki. Will all victors please join me down on the competition floor?"

Most of the genin moved swiftly, not wanting to keep the proctor waiting, with exception of both Kankuro and Shikamaru.

"Right now that we are we need to assign pairs for the final rounds. Please pick a number and call it out once you have it, this will determine the fight order as well as your opponent."

"Ladies first!" Naruto offered, allowing Hisa, Temari and Hinata to have first pick.

"Two!" Hinata called to Genma.

"Eleven!" Hisa chirped.

"Three." Temari read aloud, someone in the background writing their names and numbers on a board.

The boys picked out their numbers. Sasuke drew a seven, Gaara an eight, Lee a six, Neji number one, Shikamaru number four, Kankuro a nine, Shino a number ten and Naruto a number five.

"Right so the match ups are Hinata against Neji in the first, the second will be Temari against Shikamaru, the third is Naruto against Lee, Sasuke and Gaara will be fourth with the final match up being Kankuro against Shino. Hisa Haiboruto will have a bye for her first match, fighting the victor of the fifth match." Genma paused to take a breath and wait for any questions, seeing none he continued.

"The finals will be conducted in one month, use that time to train while foreign dignitaries gather; they will be watching the final matches and your village's worth will be decided based on your performances, so put your best foot forward for both your own promotion as well as your village's honour and future."

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**Chapter End**

I know this is an unusual request for me, but I'm going to ask for some feedback for this chapter. There were a lot of fight scenes in this and I'm more than willing to admit that I suck at writing them. What I'm _not _more than willing to do is to remain crap at writing them. Please tell me how to improve, not simply that they sucked because I can get that far on my own. Tell me what was working, what didn't and what I should include or consider next time.

Basically things I wanna know are whether there was enough detail, or if I need to grow an imagination when it comes to fights…stuff like that.

Thank you,

Fish.

PS: sorry for goofing around with Lee's match, but if I did 11 serious matches in a row I'd go insane. I still want have some fun while writing, even though writing fight scenes isn't my fave. Well, at least I got a laugh out of that even if no one else did.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 10**

First of all thanks to everyone that reviewed the previous chapter when asked, I was actually surprised to get that many. I got a great deal of information from those reviews.

Secondly sorry for not updating in so long; I recently bought a laptop which means that I can now write while on my 2 hr bus trip to uni each day (as well as on the way back).

In any case, it's time to get back to the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Life was incredibly dull, she had decided. Sure her studies under Megumi were interesting, but when she wasn't studying she really had nothing to do. With Naruto and all of his friends competing in the chuunin exams there wasn't any one that she could hang around with. She had found some solace in hanging around the ramen stand that Naruto frequented talking to the sand owner's daughter Ayame. Eventually even that lost its lustre as she increasingly found herself feeling like a third wheel, something completely out of place in the restaurant.

For those exact reasons we find Haku wandering about aimlessly in Konoha. She had finished her studies for the day under Megumi and was now free for the afternoon. She eventually found herself on top of the Yondaime's head atop the Hokage Monument.

"Haku-san?" a voice called out behind her, startling her somewhat.

She turned to see the owner of the voice, but it was unnecessary, she was already wearing a smile at merely recognising his voice.

'Naruto-kun.'

"It's good to see you again, how have the chuunin exams been going?" She asked.

"Great! Me, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru and Shino all made it into the final round!"

"That's quite an achievement, congratulations! Tell me all about it." Haku replied, genuinely interested and grateful to have someone to talk to.

Naruto regaled his exams experience so far, leaving out one of two minor details, such as Orochimaru's interference as well as the curse marks that both he and Sasuke had received.

"So what from here?" Haku asked realising that Naruto had the final exams coming up within a month.

"Nii-chan is going to train Sasuke while Ero-sennin trains me for the month."

"Ero-sennin?"

"Oh...right, Jiraiya of the sannin." He explained while rubbing the back of his head.

"Only you would call one of the most powerful ninja in the world by such a name." She ribbed playfully.

"Seriously, all he ever does is perve on bathing women so that he can write his Icha Icha series." Naruto fumed.

"Wait? You mean that orange book that Za...Taro reads? That would make a perfect gift...a signed copy."

"You're kidding, right? He doesn't actually read that, does he?" Naruto dead panned. "That aside, it was good to see you. I'm going to go pay Sakura a visit. Then I'm going to start my training with that perverted sage tomorrow."

"I'll come with you." Haku offered.

"No, it's alright, I'll go alone."

Before Haku could reply Naruto was gone, heading for the hospital.

Haku was disappointed that her time with the blond had been cut short, but then she remembered a titbit of information that he had once given her.

"_I come up here when I want to think and when I want to be alone." _Remembering this she realised that he had most probably come up to the point to clear his head and that plan had been shot to the ground when he found her there. All things considered she couldn't be too annoyed with his brusqueness.

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Naruto walked into a room in the hospital to see a bed bound Sakura with Sasuke by her side.

"How are you feeling? Sorry stupid question." Naruto quickly retracted the remark and started again.

"It's alright, and I've been better." Sakura responded, showing that she wasn't offended.

'I wonder...Rei-chan, do you think my blood would be able to help?'

'_Not likely, Naruto. The way your mother described the trait in her scroll it made it sound as though t was for open wounds or for poisons. I suspect that if this ever happened to phoenix then they would just kill themselves and when their body was reincarnated it would be whole again, as with your decapitation. Besides, you would have to freak Sakura out buy either getting her to drink your blood or else force yourself to cry. The third water source isn't an option.'_

'Point taken. So that's out.'

Naruto was broken out of his mental conversation be Sakura's soft, almost reverent voice.

"Naruto, Sasuke; I want you to promise me something. If you to fight Neji ...don't do anything you'll regret. Don't kill him" Sakura asked her voice so soft it almost sounded as though she was pleading with the pair."

"I'll go as far as necessary." Naruto responded slowly, Sasuke giving one slow nod in agreement.

Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"I think now is as good a time as any for you to make good on your promise." Sasuke said as directly as he could.

"What?" Naruto asked, thrown for loop.

"You said that you would tell us about why the villagers hate you so much at the conclusion of the second exam." Sasuke reminded, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"Is now really the best time?" Naruto asked, looking at Sakura.

"No, this can't be put off any longer." Sakura urged.

Naruto looked back and forth between the two before resigning to tell them.

"Before I tell you this, you must know one thing. What I'm about to tell you is an S ranked secret. Mentioning this aloud is an instant death sentence within this village."

Sakura gasped while Sasuke went wide eyed.

"Now, what do you know about the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, knowing full well what response he would get back.

"It was killed by Yondaime-sama just over 12 years ago. He sacrificed his life to save the village." Sakura replied automatically; it was ingrain knowledge.

"That's not entirely true. The Yondaime did defeat it, but the Kyuubi could never be killed. Instead he went for the next best option and sealed it within the only thing that could contain it; a new born baby."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed when he heard the conclusion.

"You mean to say that the new born baby was you?" Sasuke asked, though it was not really necessary.

"Shikamaru was right!" Sakura suddenly announced.

"What?" Naruto asked sharply.

"When you were away, Shikamaru was thinking out loud and said it was really strange how the villagers treated you; the hate you received was far too great to be a result of all your pranks over the years."

"Then I guess I'm gonna have to have a word with him." Naruto said grudgingly, preferring to keep the secret between as few people as possible.

"So, you guys aren't scared? You don't care that I have a demon sealed within me?" Naruto asked almost perplexed that they were having a similar reaction to Haku.

"Anyone who knows you well enough would be an idiot to call you a demon because you contain one. Besides, if I sealed a weapon in my arm, then I don't become the weapon; the same way you don't become a vicious demon if you have one in you." Sasuke assured.

'_I take offense to that!' _Rei's voice chimed in Naruto's head, with Naruto chuckling outwardly.

She's not all that bad. In fact Rei-chan is very nice when you get to know her." The other two were silent for a moment before something clicked for Sakura.

"Rei-chan? Not your civilian friend?" Sakura said with sudden realisation.

"Yep! The same!" Naruto replied as both Sakura and Sasuke paled slightly.

"So who else knows?" Sakura asked.

"You two, Haku and everybody about five or so years older than us."

"You told her before us?"

"The situation was different." Naruto said it with such finality that even if Sakura had cared to ask, she didn't think that she'd get a response.

"In any case, you two need to get home, rest up and start training for the finals." Sakura directed at both boys. "And make sure that you remember your promise to me." She called to their retreating backs.

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"RRIIIIISSSSE AND SHINE!" A voice broke through Naruto's dreams waking him up. A quick look at his alarm clock told him that it was 4 am.

Recognising the masculine voice belonging to Jiraiya, Naruto responded accordingly.

"Dammit! What in the hell are you doing there this early?"

"Starting your training! What else?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "You have a half an hour to get ready and eat, I want you at the ravine by training ground 37 by four thirty."

Grumbling, Naruto set to getting ready and a half an hour later he was at the designated location.

"What are we doing here?"

"Use the most powerful summon you have." Jiraiya demanded without explanation, following a calculating look from Naruto. "Hurry up and get to it!"

"Alright, alright already. _Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_ Naruto replied before complying with the demand.

A large phoenix appeared with several black plumes in its crest before Naruto apologised for summoning him without just cause only to be dismissed a moment later.

"Right, your still there. I want you to try using Rei's chakra." Jiraiya said, finally giving a reason for at least one thing that he said.

"But I don't..."

I'm _aware_ you don't like using her chakra, but if the time were to come, you have to know whether it would be possible or not."

'_Naruto-kun, he's right. There may be a time when you will need my chakra to do this.'_

'Fine.' Naruto ceded. Focussing internally for a minute, Naruto started to develop a slight red tinge around him before quickly flashing through seals.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu."_

For the first time Naruto had summoned something larger than the phoenix he had summoned with his trip to find Hiko. This phoenix was immense, being at least as tall a Gamabunta the toad boss was. The truly spectacular sight was when the phoenix stretched out its wings, the wingspan being as great as the Snake boss, Manda, was long. The phoenix was mostly black with a mosaic of gold and red feathers across its body, glimmering in the light and giving the impression of being on fire.

"So this is the new summoner that Shinme spoke of, Naruto was it? Well, allow me to introduce myself; I am Tobifushicho, boss of the Phoenixes."

"Tobifushicho-sama, it is an honour to be in your presence."

"It is good to finally meet you in person Naruto. Is there anything you require of me?"

"No, boss. My apologies for disturbing you unnecessarily."

"Think nothing of it. And remember, when you need us, the phoenixes will always come to your aid" Tobifushicho said before dispelling in a massive plume of smoke.

"_No, boss. My apologies for disturbing you unnecessarily._" Jiraiya mimicked in a high voice, imitating Naruto. "Why don't you show me that much respect?"

"Because you don't deserve it." Naruto replied, Jiraiya sporting a look of mock hurt on his face.

"Now what?" Naruto asked.

"With that out of the way, you are at my mercy." Jiraiya said as his face became a lot more stern.

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The training Jiraiya made Naruto was harsh. If Naruto had thought that any of his genin sensei were harsh, then Jiraiya was on a whole other level in his training techniques.

"Dammit. You really don't pull your punches do you?" Naruto grizzled.

"Why bother? Your enemies never will." Jiraiya had reasoned as they both got ready for another bout of taijutsu.

In reality Jiraiya really was pulling his punches. If he really wanted to beat up on the kid he would have. He was just fighting at a level slightly above Naruto each time. What Naruto failed to realise was that Jiraiya was constantly having to raise the level he was fighting at. The improvements were small but rapid.

Each morning was the same routine. Jiraiya would work on Naruto's physical capabilities. Naruto often mentioned that he would like to learn a new jutsu, but the sage had refused telling him that his opponent would not give him time to even get through the hand seals.

The first week of training went by without much event, almost boring Naruto to tears with repetition, he only thing that changed regularly was that Naruto was made by Jiraiya to pump chakra into his arm and leg bracers making them far heavier. It was only until Jiraiya was satisfied with Naruto's improvement with speed, power and fluidity in his taijutsu that he decided to move onto other areas.

The next area that they moved onto was chakra control. The mere memory of those hellish days was enough to make Naruto shiver.

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto had arrived at the usual place to see two people standing there waiting for him._

"_Anko-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure what to expect._

"_Helping you…train. What else Gaki?" Naruto really didn't like the way she made the word 'train' hang, nor did he like the lingering smirk on her face when she said the word._

"_Senai jyashu!" Before Naruto could do anything he was tied up in Anko's snakes._

"_Now before you ask I got Anko do this so you couldn't run. Your chakra training involves Anko peppering you body with senbon, then you have to push those senbon out using your chakra. The catch is you can't just blow them all out, you have to do it at a certain rate."_

"_Rate?"_

"_Yep, for example you can't have any of the senbon fall out before say 5 seconds. This will force you to continuously use chakra in small amount, and focus your control."_

_And so it started. The first time Naruto tried all three senbon blasted out of his body with such force that Jiraiya had to use _doryuheki_ to protect Anko and himself._

_The second try was marginally better. By the end of the day Naruto was pushing all of the senbon out at the 20 second mark. He thought he'd get a break when he ran out of chakra or when they ran out of senbon, but he was sorely mistaken as they came prepared for both possibilities with soldier pill and multiple sealing scrolls with senbon sealed in them._

_Each day Jiraiya added a new layer to the task. Day two required Naruto to push the senbon out of one part of the body, but not from others. Day three involved pushing out senbon from different parts of his body at different rates. Days four through to eight were simply a repeat of day three; Jiraiya had insisted that he made sure that he got the thing down. Naruto insisted that it was because both Jiraiya and Anko used his pain as a sadistic form of pleasure. Anko insisted that…well Anko didn't deny Naruto's accusation, but she did get a certain gleam in her eye as she threw each senbon._

_After his last evening of chakra control training Naruto sat at his usual stall at the Ichiraku's when he happened to look over to another stall to see none other than Yugito Nii and her student Hisa Haiboruto dining as well._

"_Naruto Uzumaki, if I'm not mistaken?" She directed at him after noticing his interest._

"_I…er…" Naruto struggled to find something to say after he realised that he'd been staring._

"_Care to join us?" Hisa offered._

"_Thanks." Naruto said, momentarily stunned by the offer._

_They trio started chatting about nothing in particular until Yugito told her student to run and grab some drinks for them._

_Naruto took the break in conversation to ask Yugito something that had been plaguing his thoughts since he first saw the Kumo jounin._

"_Yugito-san, can I ask you a very personal question?" Naruto had to be very delicate about how he did this; he sat quietly as Yugito looked at him cautiously before nodding consent._

"_I have a sort of...sense. It doesn't allow me any great insight really. The thing is I can feel different forms of life. When I sit with you I feel something different to normal." Naruto looked as though he was thinking hard about what he was saying, something evident to Yugito so she decided to her him out._

"_It's just different not bad." Naruto tried to clarify. "In truth I actually only realised this sense a few weeks ago and I'm trying to learn all I can. I was wondering if you knew what it was that makes you feel different to the rest."_

_Yugito looked at the boy, wondering how to help him, or indeed whether she should._

"_If I told you outright I would be breaking a village secret. The best that I can do is to tell you my title but not what it means. I am what's known as a jinchuuriki."_

_Naruto's eyes widened before he quickly whispered something to Yugito._

"_One with the power of a bijuu sealed within them." Now it was Yugito's turn to be surprised._

"_How in hell does a genin know about that off the top of their head?" She whispered back dangerously. She had to be cautious, if he really wasn't who he seemed then she could be in a lot of trouble._

_The atmosphere of the room had changed drastically, it was enough for the civilians to notice; Naruto figured he had to do something. _

_He made a placating move to calm Yugito down before jumping up onto his seat and yelling his head off._

"_OH YEAH? WELL IT TAKES ONE TO KNOWN ONE!" Naruto yelled in as childish a voice he could muster._

_He sat down again huffing and puffing for show but Yugito realised the message in the outburst._

"_Nibi." The single word was all Naruto needed to understand._

"_Kyuubi." Naruto responded. A look of surprise crossed Yugito's face._

"_What was all that about?" Hisa had returned to the table with the drinks._

"_Your sensei called me a stupid blonde." Naruto replied easily, making it look as though lying was second nature to him. _

"_Well if you're stupid enough to ask me such a personal question then it's a fitting title. Imagine asking a lady her age." What did you need to know for, to see whether I was young enough for you? Or whether it was old enough?" Yugito continued with the lie while enjoying the flushed look on Naruto's face as he worked out what she was implying._

_After the drinks were finished Yugito suggested that it was time to retire for the night for all parties involved. They went their separate ways for the evening after Naruto said his good nights Hisa and Yugito saying good bye to Naruto's already retreating figure; his raised hand in recognition of the farewell._

_FLASHBACK END_

We find Naruto with Jiraiya, training his chakra control again, they had moved to mixed sessions, involving taijutsu and physical training for the first half and chakra control for the second half. Jiraiya had noticed that Naruto's form was off in the sparring, but it was even more evident in the chakra control exercises. Naruto was almost back to square one; blasting the senbon out of his body.

"That's it! Stop right there!" Naruto gave his sensei an empty look before Jiraiya continued.

"Your head is nowhere near where it needs to be. What the hell is on your mind to lose focus this badly?" Naruto remained silent for a moment before answering.

"Did you know that there are others like me?" Naruto asked hollowly. Jiraiya was actually caught off guard by his question. Of course he knew what the boy was referring to, but he didn't ever expect the words to come from his mouth.

"Yes. I knew." Jiraiya answered heavily.

"Do you think that we all live the same sort of life? All hated but the general population." Jiraiya was wondering where the boy was going with this conversation but answered anyway.

"No, I don't think that is the case. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering what would have happened if Nii-chan and everybody else hadn't provided me with their love and friendship. Would I have become like Gaara. And if there is anybody out there at risk of being like Gaara, I would want to help them, no matter the cost." Naruto said pensively.

"Good reasons. My advice would be to speak to Yugito-san about her past. And for now to train; if you aren't strong enough then good intentions aren't enough to what is needed is the strength to defend what you hold precious."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya as though he was seeing light for the first time. He never knew that the man could provide such good advice.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei." Jiraiya was actually taken aback to hear that again, the first time in nearly 15 years.

"What's with 'Jiraiya-sensei'?" Jiraiya asked.

"I always said that I show respect to those who deserve it. You have always had my respect, but certain other activities detracted from that. And I really do appreciate you training me like this." It was an answer that surprised Jiraiya, but he had noticed that Naruto seemed to be more focused now, so they returned to their training.

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While Naruto was training intensely with Jiraiya, his friends were also being pushed to their limits by their own sensei. Sasuke was being pushed to beyond his breaking point by Kakashi; it was a mere miracle that the boy's body simply hadn't shutdown after such punishment. Lee was put through one brutal training regimen after another by Gai. While Gai tried not to play favourites and help Neji, the boy turned away help from his sensei; Tenten had yet to even remain within earshot of the boy after his outburst at Sakura through the preliminaries. Shikamaru and Shino were training with their clans, leaving Asuma free to help Kurenai with Hinata's training (as neither Ino nor Chouji made it through).

Out of all the genin Hinata seemed to be pushing herself the hardest. It was recognised that next to Sasuke, she had the most dangerous opponent, made all the more deadly by Neji's open hatred of the Hyuuga main branch. It was a week till the final day and Hinata was still desperately looking for a way to neutralise Neji's _kaiten._

She had decided to go to the ramen stand that Naruto claimed had the best noodle and broth mixture in the world. This is how Naruto found Hinata when he walked into the stand to find the indigo haired girl sitting on what happened to be his usual seat.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?"

"Taking a break from training for an evening." Hinata said, some of her frustrations becoming evident in her voice.

"Care to share? Or is that a secret strategy for the exams?" Naruto asked, hoping that he could take a load off her mind.

"No, it's nothing secret. I'm just starting to question whether or not I can beat Neji." Hinata sighed.

"Hinata, you're not the same girl you were all those years ago. You can do this." Naruto tried to assure her.

"This is nothing to do with who I am. It's simply an admission that there is a very strong chance that I will lose to Neji, I will try to beat him, but it's as though the gap in our skills is too large for me to make up in a month." Hinata replied.

"Hinata, what is your goal in life?" While it was worded as a question it was meant more as a reminder as every one of Hinata's friends knew what her goal was.

"To unite the main and branch houses of the Hyuuga clan." Hinata responded.

"Neji believes that everything is dictated by fate. You know he believes that you are _fated_ to lose against him. Prove him wrong. Open his eyes."

"I know and I want to. It's just I don't think I can."

"You, out of any of the rookies, have the best chance of doing it. Did you know that?" Naruto told her, making her look at him in disbelief.

"But Sasuke and you are so much stro..."

"Every technique has a prerequisite. It was something that Aniki taught me. Jutsu require had signs and chakra, other techniques require timing or precision. You know the Jyuuken as well as Neji does. That means that if you can take a requirement away from him, then he can't perform his techniques, even if it's a single technique. Just make sure it isn't something that he can use against you." Naruto said to her, giving her a hard look, urging her not to give up hope with his eyes.

Hinata straight ahead, digesting what he had said. Nothing more was said between them as they ate their ramen; they said their goodbyes and parted ways before getting ready for a new day of training.

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The next day Naruto arrived at the usual training ground to find Asuma there instead of Jiraiya.

"Asuma-sensei? What's going on?"

"Jiraiya had an errand to run, so I've got you for the day. We are going to spar all day to day till you drop from exhaustion." Naruto simply smiled and got ready.

By the end of the day Naruto wasn't tired, but he was extremely sore, his only relief was that his phoenix blood was taking care of it rather quickly; Asuma hadn't earned his status for nothing. Asuma, on the other hand _was_ about ready to drop from exhaustion; it was simply staggering how much stamina the blond genin had.

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The final week was spent with Jiraiya learning a new jutsu. It came as a surprise to Naruto that Jiraiya was actually going to work on something other than taijutsu and chakra control.

"There are two that I'm gonna be working on. The first it the _kage kunai_ and the other, if you master the first, is _yomi numa._"

The _kage kunai _was mastered by Naruto in an hour, it was hardly surprising, and after all, if the kid could master _kage bunshin _and _bunshin daibakuha_, then _kage kunai_ should prove to be no harder. _Yomi numa, _on the other hand did prove to be more difficult as Naruto had discovered. It wasn't simply about performing the hand signs and performing the jutsu. No matter how many times he tried, the ground seemed to completely liquefy when he used the jutsu, rather than having the consistency of a swamp and sucking the opponent down to the bottom.

It took Naruto several days to work out that if he was to use more chakra then he had to spread it out over a larger area, the higher the chakra concentration in the soil, the more liquidised it became. With this worked out he performed the jutsu again, this time spreading the same chakra out over a large area. The result was to have a swamp more that 800 meters across form, though it was still fairly watery, meaning that Naruto had to spread his chakra out further or to reduce the total amount of chakra he was using. Jiraiya recommended a little of both.

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The night before the final examination Naruto was out late after a long day of training. Normally a sensei would rest their genin before such a large event, rather than exerting them so strenuously, but Jiraiya had recognised that it would make little difference to Naruto, so he worked the boy to the bone until the end, almost literally in some cases.

Naruto was headed to his favourite haunt when he happened across Yugito Nii.

"Yugito-san." Naruto greeted with a small wave.

"Naruto-san" The Kumo jounin returned with a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Yugito-san, I've been meaning to talk to you. Would you care to join me for some ramen? My treat."

"I'll join you, but you don't need to pay for me. That seems way too close to a date. Or is that what you want Naruto-san?" Yugito teased. She knew she really shouldn't, but it was just so amusing seeing the poor genin get worked up like this.

"Naruto-san, it's fine. Let's go." Yugito said to a gobbed smacked and spluttering Naruto.

Within a minute they were comfortably seated in Ichiraku's, the same place they were when Hisa was with them.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know what kind of life you had growing up."

"Interesting question. What specifically did you want to know about my life?" Yugito looked thoughtful as she tried to understand where he was coming from.

"I wanted to know whether you were happy. Whether there were people that hated you. Did you have people that helped you and accepted you, knowing your secret?" Yugito contemplated the question for a moment before responding.

"I've never really given it much thought, but I suppose I had a good childhood. I'm sure there were people that did hate me, but I was never subjected to them. And yes, there were lots that helped. My situation is no _secret._ It is known to the general population, so they can accept me as I am, or hate me and avoid me."

As Yugito collected her thoughts, Naruto asked another question.

"Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you didn't have that in your life?"

"Never, I've never had a reason to. But apparently you have. I'm going to guess that it was recent."

"Gaara. I often wonder if I could have turned out like that."

'_Naruto-kun I'm so sorry.'_ Rei sounded almost heartbroken.

'Rei-chan, never apologise for that. I promise you on my soul, that Madara Uchiha will pay for trying to control you.' Naruto waved her apology aside; he could never hold Rei accountable for actions that she was never in control of.

"Naruto?!" Yugito called Naruto out of his thoughts. "You zoned there."

Naruto looked at Yugito with a new purpose.

"Do you have a free moment?" Yugito nodded, Naruto scarfed the last of his ramen, before motioning for Yugito to leave with him.

A short while later they arrived at one of the remote training grounds before Naruto turned to Yugito.

"Are you on good terms with your bijuu?" Yugito almost fell over at the question but, managed to simply nod in response.

"What I am going to show you stays strictly between us." Naruto waited for her to agree before showing her what he was going to do.

'_Naruto-kun, what are you...' _Rei never got to finish as Naruto announced his jutsu.

"_Kage bunshin!"_ For the first time in a very long while, Rei was out in the open.

"Yugito-san, this is Rei. Or as most people know her, Kyuubi no Kitsune."

"It's a pleasure Yugito-san." Yugito actually did fall this time; straight onto her backside. What this boy had done was inconceivable.

After an explanation of the mechanics behind the technique, Yugito was ready to try the technique herself.

"_Kage bunshin." _Before them stood a woman with flowing purple hair, wearing a midnight blue kimono with a sliver cat embroidered just above the hem at the bottom left of the kimono.

She was looking directly at Naruto before kneeling on the ground and bowing to him.

"Naruto-sama, Kyuubi-dono, I am eternally grateful. I am forever indebted to you."

"Must you really stand on ceremony all the time, Shisei?"

"This is too large a gift not to stand on ceremony. I will never be able to repay this." The purple haired woman countered.

"Repayment? If you really want to repay me, then friendship would be nice."

"Friendship, Naruto-sama? I think I can do that." The purple haired woman replied before looking at her jinchuuriki for confirmation, who simply nodded in agreement.

"Good, first things first. My friends don't call me _Naruto-sama_, it's just Naruto, and they don't bow to me either. Friends are equals."

"Shisei?" Yugito asked the only thing that she though she could handle knowing for evening.

"My name is Shisei Kouyuu; Nibi no Nekomata is simply a title or rank, like kage." Shisei explained, Yugito nodding in understanding.

All four took a seat on the damp grass and talked for a while longer, not about anything in particular, but just chatted as friends would do as they tried to pass away an afternoon. It wasn't until much later the Yugito pointed out that Naruto should get going as he had to rest up for the afternoon.

"Naruto, I want to thank you. Nib...Shisei has always wanted to get out of that cage she has been in for more than twenty years. She never tried to take control of my body and has always been there for me, she was merely imprisoned in me to give the village more power."

"Think nothing of it." Naruto tried to brush away as he slowly grew more embarrassed from the thanks.

"No...this is important to me. To the both of us, so thank you." Before she left she said one thing to Naruto over her shoulder, "You know, after getting to know you, I think that if I could have a little brother, then I would have wanted him to be exactly like you."

Naruto was on the verge of tearing up as she left the training grounds.

"First an older brother, now an older sister." Naruto said aloud, mostly to himself.

''And a grandfather too, Naruto-kun. You can't forget Sarutobi."

"That old man isn't off the hook y..."

"Then consider letting him off the hook already.' Rei cut him off, exasperated, "What if he were to die tomorrow? Could you live the rest of your life hating the fact that you forgave him too late and he never knew?"

"What he did, it was beyond reasoning." Naruto hissed back

"No, it wasn't." Rei countered simply, "His reasoning was flawed, but he was still trying to do what he thought was best for you and the village. I'm not telling you what to do...but just consider it." Naruto didn't respond immediately.

"It's getting late and I really should get some rest." It was his way of ending the conversation and providing him a reason to not think about what they had just discussed.

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It was the day of the final exams; all contestants were standing before a filled-to-capacity chuunin exams stadium. Genma Shiranui was before all the competitors explaining the proceedings to them.

"Your first match will be a one on one with the opponent that was determined at the end of the preliminary round, with exception to Hisa-san, Shino-san and Kankuro-san of course. The victors will then go on to a round robin tournament. The person with the most victories at the end of the round robin will be the winner of the tournament." Genma surveyed the chuunin aspirators before continuing.

"Remember, the person that wins does not necessarily become a chuunin. Similarly, the person that has to bow out in the first round can still advance in rank. It will hinge on your abilities to show the qualities required of a chuunin." After his address to the genin he turned his attention to the Hokage so he could address the crowd and the genin.

"To our esteemed visitors, I welcome you to the final examination. Citizens of the elemental nations I compel you; cheer for your competitors, provide them with a tangible atmosphere of excitement and anticipation. Competitors, good luck! Fight well, do your country, your sensei and yourself proud." The crowd received the address with a wild cheer as Sarutobi sat between the Kazekage and the Raikage.

"Well now that we are clear can start. All competitors but Hinata and Neji please clear the field."

Once the competitors were clear Neji and Hinata turned to face each other.

"Well, isn't this fitting? The Hyuuga failure about to be disgraced in front of half of Konoha's population by none other than a branch member." Neji taunted, trying to get under Hinata's skin.

"For one with the Byakugan, you certainly are blind Nii-san. I will open your eyes. And while I'm at it I'm going to make you regret your actions towards Sakura." Hinata responded coolly.

"My eyes see perfectly. You are fated to lose this match, just as Hanabi-sama is destined to be the clan head." Neji retorted.

It seemed that the exchange had come to an end as both settled into a _jyuuken_ stance.

"BEGIN!!" Genma roared for the benefit of the crowd.

Seeing that both were willing to sit and wait till the other had moved, Neji moved in first. He struck out at Hinata's shoulder only to have her twist her body and strike out at a tenketsu on the offending arm. He parried blow with enough force put Hinata of balance, Hinata was far more nimble than he had expected and rotated with the parry and swept low at his legs, forcing him to jump over. During that brief moment that he was airborne Hinata sent a hand at Neji's shoulder, hoping to disable his right arm

Neji realised that he was in no position to avoid or parry the strike, meaning that he only had two options left; block or get hit. He caught her left hand with his own left hand. Simultaneously both Hyuuga forced a small amount of chakra into their opponent's arms on the underside of the wrist; causing both the left hand on each person to crumple.

"A stalemate." Hiashi observed, his younger daughter simply observing the match. She had been instructed to watch Neji very closely, but it seemed that her elder sister was also worthy of consideration.

Both combatants had separated from each other, readying them for another bout; both having an impaired used of their left hand.

"You are holding your own...for now." Neji said to Hinata. "Quit now if you don't want to be totally disgraced." He finished.

"I won't quit until I've completed what I set out to do." Hinata replied never losing sight of either her opponent or her goal.

This time it was Hinata's turn to rush in and start the offense, as soon as she was within range Neji changed his stance and started spinning while pushing chakra out all of his tenketsu.

"_Kaiten."_ He announced. Hinata saw the trouble she was in and did the only thing that she could to salvage the situation.

"_Kaiten!"_ She called, matching her cousin's move.

Both chakra domes expanded from their creators. They were positioned close enough for part of their opponents dome to be within their own; the result was for the incompatible chakras to repel from each other in spectacular fashion, blowing both competitors in opposite directions. Due to their position in the field Hinata was sent flying and bounced off the ground before coming to a stop after rolling across the ground. Neji on the other hand was far closer to the wall behind him that Hinata was and before he could even land on the ground he hit into the stadium wall at full force.

Both Hyuuga struggled to regain their feet after the recovering from the staggering amount of force that had sent them flying. Neji was a little slower to get to his feet, but it made no difference as he was already rushing in to meet Hinata's advance. Hinata was hoping that she could catch Neji while he was still recovering, she knew that with him so close to the wall he wouldn't risk the same move that had blasted them apart or he would endure a far more vicious hit than before.

Neji's right hand lashed out Hinata's left shoulder, only for her to dodge again. While she was contorted out of her usual stance, Neji aimed for her right leg with the other hand, hoping that she wouldn't be able to move it out of the way in time, however she surprised him when she rotated around fully and tried to lodge an elbow in his ribs. Neji was forced to cancel his motion and try to dodge. He evaded successfully, but Hinata made a follow up strike. This time instead of parrying sideways, he directed her straight down, what he didn't expect was for her to go along with it.

Hinata was now in a hand stand, switching from hand to hand a she performed rotating helicopter kicks, all of which were avoided by Neji. He got inside her kicks and aimed a low sweep at her supporting hands, but she saw the motion coming, pumping a bit of chakra into her arms for extra strength she pushed off the ground and vaulted back onto her feet. As soon as she had rectified her body position she charged her entire hand with chakra, not to close any tenketsu, but to blast Neji away. Neji saw the move coming and made to match it. Both hands connected to the opponent at the same time, giving a similar result as the dual _kaiten_, the opponents being launched away from each other, though both also managed to maintain their footing this time around.

The combatants were panting from exertion. This would likely be the final round. All were expecting one final bout of high level taijutsu so when Hinata withdrew eight shuriken from her pouches and slotted them between the fingers on both hands a few raised eyebrows in surprise.

"A pointless move. The _kaiten_ will render such a tactic useless." Hiashi surmised.

"It looks as though Hinata has run out of ideas if she is resorting to such a common tactic. Neji has won the match."

"You are within my field of divination." Neji announced to Hinata.

Seeing that Hinata made no move to change the situation, Neji took it as a sign of resignation. He rushed in, ready to complete his technique.

He had played right into Hinata's hand, though he didn't know it yet. Just when Neji was upon her she loosed the shuriken in her hands. Neji couldn't dodge all of them properly he did what he saw as his only option, not as though it was going to change anything.

"_Kaiten!" _He started his ultimate defensive technique; again he had played right into Hinata's hand. Hinata swiftly went through five hand seals before announcing her jutsu.

"Ryo kenchigai no jutsu!" She was concentrating hard, the ground under Neji's feet cracked, making him loose his footing as he was in the middle of his _kaiten. _Neji's feet sank into the small fissure around him, suddenly just as soon as the fissure had appeared; Hinata had closed it with Neji's feet still stuck in it.

Neji still had his momentum from his _kaiten_, unfortunately for him his feet could not turn with the rest of his body as it was trapped in the ground as a result of Hinata's jutsu; then suddenly there was as sickening crack that echoed around the field followed by a harsh scream of pain. Neji's body had rotated further than what his ankles could bear, so his ankles broke.

"You...you...I will..."

"You can do nothing Neji, you are beaten. It would be a simple matter to kill you like this."

"Then why don't you?" Neji snarled.

"My goal today was to open your eyes, not shut them permanently." Hinata replied in a level voice.

"It would be welcome to escape this life."

"You could just as easily end your life yourself, but then that would prove that fate doesn't exist, because you chose yourself when and how you would die." Hinata informed.

"You wish for me to kill myself?" Neji replied, the tone he used seemed to imply that he almost seemed willing.

"No, you said that I was fated to lose this match, I have proved you wrong."

"Must you mock me still?" Neji demanded.

"Hear me out."

"What? What could you say that could possibly say that would interest me?" Neji was almost livid at having to be put through this in public.

"You said that Hanabi was fated to become clan head. You believe that you are fated to bear the seal that you hate so much for the rest of your life. Help me change my fate, help me become clan head, and I will help change yours, and that of any other branch member, including your children." Hinata concluded.

"What?" Neji for the first time ever, was dumbfounded.

"I swear on my own life that if I defy what you believe fate has planned for me, then I will change what you believe fate has planned for you and remove the caged bird seal and ban its practice." Hinata gave her oath.

Neji looked on in disbelief, not sure if Hinata was sure of what she had just declared.

Looking at his cousin, he swore himself an oath; as long as she held true to her words, and indeed her dream, he would support her. He would change what he had become and live his life, no longer blaming fate for something if he could strive to change it.

"The winner of the first match; Hinata Hyuuga!" Genma announced. In recognition of the victory, Hinata bowed to the Kage stand before turning to her father and bowing to him.

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**Chapter End**

Well, back to normal. I got all the info that I needed from the reviews from last chapter, so there really isn't a need to review this time, unless there is some aspect that you didn't like and wanna let me know.

Translations

Ryo kenchigai no jutsu – False footing jutsu

Doton: yomi numa – Earth release: dark swap

Senai jyashu –Sublime snake hand


	12. Chapter 12

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 11**

Once again, thanks to all those that reviewed; your encouragement is much appreciated.

Well, may as well get on with what you folks would actually like to read…the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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The crowd had been worked up to a frenzied state from the first match alone. Hinata had rejoined the rest of the competitors in a booth separate from the rest of the crowd; Neji was taken to the infirmary to have his broken ankles treated.

At the infirmary he was met by Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga clan. Here, Hiashi passed on Hizashi's last testament to his only child. Neji read the letter that was written in what was unmistakably his father's handwriting. It detailed the events of the Kumo visit, including the attempted kidnapping on Hinata. It also told of how his uncle had resigned himself to death to slake Kumo's thirst for blood and how Hizashi had willingly taken his place to save his brother.

His final message to Neji was to live his live as freely as he could, to live his live on his own circumstances just; like his father had done.

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Back in the arena, the next pair of combatants had been called upon and was already deadlocked in a battle of wits. Shikamaru and Temari's battle, while not all that interesting to the observing civilians, was riveting for the ninja that were watching; after all it was not often that such high level tactics were used by mere genin.

The match had started out with Temari blasting Shikamaru with wind from her fan, only for the boy to dodge and vanish from sight in the dust cloud that was kicked up from the jutsu. Shikamaru then launched his attack, his shadow shooting out from the shadows of the trees in the stadium only for it to stop just short of Temari's own shadow.

Temari marked the distance that the shadow had travelled and aimed to stay out of range while hoping to severe the lazy genin with one of her wind jutsu. Shikamaru did try to use his jacket with a kunai tied to it as an 'island' of shadow to extend his reach, but Temari reacted just in time, leaping back just out of reach. The move had failed and cost Shikamaru his advantage of surprise; Temari had no real idea of where he was till he launched his attack.

Temari was so focussed on avoiding the shadows that she could see, that she neglected the shadows behind her that were slowly growing as the afternoon wore on; Shikamaru, however, had counted on this and was not the kind to leave any possibility unconsidered. All he had to do was keep her distracted while the shadow grew towards her.

Then he tried it again, he threw a kunai right at Temari with his _kagemane_ extended along its shadow. She dodged the kunai as well as the shadow that went with it.

"You've tried that already. I saw you do…" She had expected the manoeuvre once again and had dodged accordingly, but his aim was never for Temari, it was for the shadow of the arena wall behind her behind her. Shikamaru's shadow touched the arena wall shadow and immediately shot out again, all the while Temari was unaware of her own proximity to the shaded area.

Captured within the jutsu she had no choice but to do exactly as Shikamaru did. She was slowly walking to the centre of the arena. She stopped just a little short, as did Shikamaru. Shikamaru then made Temari throw her fan out into the space between them, slightly closer to her opponent than it was to her.

Shikamaru bent to pick up the fan, Temari mimicking his motion, though picking up nothing. They walked closet until they were just an arm's length away from each other. Shikamaru, lined up Temari's fan with her head, all the while Temari did the same, though not actually holding anything.

"You know, you can still use your voice." Shikamaru's said to Temari, his exact words to Kin Tsuchi before he defeated her.

Temari had a fierce flicker run through her eyes before she swallowed her pride.

"I forfeit." Temari said to Genma, though not able to turn her head to face him.

"Winner of the second round, Shikamaru Nara." There was a polite spatter of applause from around the arena, though nowhere near the tumultuous noise that was raised for the conclusion of the first match.

Both Shikamaru and Temari left the arena, rejoining their fellow competitors. Lee and Naruto were already in the arena before being called.

The Kazekage looked on at the match. He had cared little for the first two matches; the only two matches that he really cared about were this one and the one after between Gaara and Sasuke. Why did he care so little about a match that featured his daughter? In truth the Kazekage was an imposter, Orochimaru had formed an alliance with Suna. One that had been broken as easily as Suna had broken their treaty with Konoha, though Konoha was unaware if it thus far.

Orochimaru had killed the Kazekage in order to get closer to his sensei, the Sandaime Hokage. As Orochimaru watched on, awaiting the start of the match, he thought back to the final plans he'd laid out with Kabuto, his spy, just a few weeks ago.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Soon, very soon, the moment of my vengeance will be at hand. I will make that foolish old man and his village pay for spurning me and choosing Minato Namikaze as Hokage instead of me." Orochimaru said out aloud, barely able to keep the glee out of his voice._

"_My Lord! I have just spoken with the Suna jounin, Baki. Their preparations are complete. Sand will march on Konoha the night before the final exam and make camp just out of Konoha's surveillance area. Come the morning of the chuunin exams they will complete the rest of the journey." Kabuto reported._

"_Excellent, everything is proceeding as expected."_

_There was a small pause between the two leaf traitors as Kabuto considered how to word his next question._

"_Have you considered a strategy for fighting the Sandaime, Orochimaru-sama?" He asked, keeping his voice as respectful as possible._

"_Oh yes, I have quite a surprise for Sarutobi. I dare say it will be just like old times, a happy little reunion. All I need is several sacrifices."_

"_Sacrifices? Will the sound genin currently in the exams suffice? They have outlived their usefulness in any case."_

"_Dosu and Zaku, yes. Keep Kin." Orochimaru said without hesitating._

"_Kin?" Kabuto asked, not sure what his master was thinking._

"_Yes, in the near future, I will have need for as many…incubators as possible. Just find another to sacrifice." Orochimaru explained, a vicious smirk playing across his face._

"_As you wish, my Lord." Kabuto intoned before leaving in a bow, leaving Orochimaru in the room on his own._

_FLASHBACK END_

Now he would just have to wait and see whether the second he had taken an interest in would shine as well.

Down on the arena floor Genma was shaking his head in dismay at the two competitors.

"Well, seeing as you're eager, I may as well get going." Genma sighed before going back to his role as referee. "Third match; Naruto Uzumaki versus Rock Lee, BEGIN!" The competitors didn't need Genma to yell for them to hear, but the crowd did and it added to the atmosphere.

Lee and Naruto were both in their standard taijutsu stances, Naruto waiting for Lee to come at him. He didn't have to wait very long, no sooner had the match begun, Lee had blitzed across the field and was on the offensive.

Lee lead out with a basic right punch, Naruto easily spun around this a Lee sent and aerial round house to Naruto's head as Lee avoided an elbow to the ribs. Naruto was forced to cancel his actions and spin the under the kick the opposite way.

Naruto recognised that he had a lot to thank Jiraiya for. Just a month ago point he could have seen himself out and down for the count by this point, he would have never been able to dodge any of those hits. There was no two ways about it, Lee was freakishly fast and hit very hard. Now he could not only see and dodge the incoming attacks, he could also mount some kind of counter.

Lee came at Naruto with another high kick; Naruto braced his left arm with his right on his wrist braces, letting them take most of the force. Before Lee could completely remove his leg from the area, Naruto had grabbed it and sent him to ground. Naruto made to follow up after the throw, but Lee had already made it back to his feet.

The matched raged on, in the stand, a young apprentice medic was watching the two boys in awe. Haku had watched the first two matches with relative interest, was enthralled with this one. Now Naruto was fighting the only thought that was running through her head was his safety. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she know that he'd be fine, particularly after she saw his rebirth on the bridge, but she still couldn't help but worry.

'I'm becoming a mother hen.' She mused to herself as she watched Naruto take a solid hit to the mouth, looking as though his jaw may have been dislocated, before he grabbed the offending arm and forced his hand into the elbow, returning the favour.

The boys broke apart, Lee forcing his elbow back into his socket as Naruto gave his jaw a hard jerk. The civilian portion of the crowd winced at the sight; it was nothing new for the shinobi, many of whom had seen things far worse.

"It would appear as though I can't beat you without shedding a few pound Naruto-kun." Lee announced across the field.

Elsewhere, the jounin sensei for the rookies were watching on in amusement as Lee made his declaration. Kurenai, a less seasoned jounin than her colleagues, was the first to speak.

"How much difference could a few pounds make?" she asked, not quite sure what to expect. Kakashi was the one to reply.

"You haven't had much exposure to Gai's…eccentricies, have you?" Kakashi asked. Kurenai shook her head in response. "He has a habit of taking things to the extreme." As soon as he had finished the sentence Lee dropped his weights in a corner, a massive dust plume rising from the area.

Most people's eyes went wide with shock, Kakashi just shook his head. While he wasn't too worried for Naruto's overall health, he knew his adopted brother would want to win this. It was just one more step towards getting people to notice him in the correct light.

No sooner than the 'few pounds' were shed, Lee had disappeared and went on the offensive. He appeared under Naruto, kicking him up into the air. Naruto didn't fly as high as he would have liked due to the extra weight so Lee had to use a few extra kicks to get him there.

"Gai, what the hell is you student doing?" Asuma demanded, recognising the opening to the _omote renge_**. **"That move could kill Naruto.

Before Gai could even open his mouth Kakashi had responded.

"Asuma, don't worry about it. Naruto can handle himself." He assured the Sandaime's son.

"Kakashi, you may be a glazé person, but even you should have some concern over this." Kurenai admonished, shocked about Kakashi's lack of interest over his adopted little brother's wellbeing.

"Just watch." Was Kakashi's simple reply, not taking his eyes off the match for a moment.

Naruto was sent flying by Lee, who had appeared underneath him. Lee had grabbed him around the midriff and both boys were plummeting to earth head first at devastating speeds. Naruto's head was slightly further down than Lee's so that he would hit first. There was nothing nearby with which to perform a substitution so there was only one real option left.

Flashing through five quick hand seals Naruto announced his jutsu.

"_Doton: yomi numa!"_ The ground under Naruto and Lee liquefied, both boys falling into the goop.

The crowd watched the murky swamp tensely for any movement. The swamp was completely still, save for a few bubbles that made their way to the surface every now and again. Then a figure covered in mud burst forth; Naruto had emerged.

Naruto didn't even wait for a second before withdrawing chakra, making the swamp more viscous. Just as the swamp became a honey like consistency a massive surge of chakra was felt somewhere below the depths. Mud was sent everywhere as lee also emerged from the mud.

"So he opened the first gate?" Kakashi surmised, "This might just get more interesting."

"He's not done yet Kakashi." Kakashi gave him a stare demanding an explanation. "It's all over. Lee can open no less than five of the eight gates. I'm sorry for the pain Naruto is about to endure." Gai said in a completely level voice.

Kakashi had a grim look on his face, there were too many variables in this match; a boy that could open the inner gates who could likely out do most jounin in a pure taijutsu match, another that had the most powerful of the tailed beasts sealed within along with Orochimaru's 'gift' that was partially removed and likely highly unstable and finally a transformation that if not controlled correctly would likely level half of Konoha.

Lee had progressed to the fourth gate and was currently unlocking the fifth; most had assumed that the boy couldn't use ninjutsu due to a lack of chakra. A stupid notion of course; chakra reserves increased with training, Lee merely had trouble expressing it out of the body in jutsu, but had an abundant supply of it.

Naruto felt the chakra and decided to match. He removed chakra from his bracers, there was so much that it was literally pouring out of his tenketsu, it was swirling around his body aggressively. Lee and Naruto gave each other one last fleeting look before rushing in. Lee was still faster by a considerable amount, but Naruto still manage to hold his own. The shinobi watching the match could barely keep up, only the high chuunin and above could see the furious exchange.

Lee came in at Naruto with punch to the solar plexus, Naruto moved around it and jumped, sending a kick to his opponent's head. Lee grabbed the leg and forced a sharp jab to Naruto's side; he immediately regretted both actions. The block was successful and the punch was a direct hit, but where Lee had made contact his skin was bright red and his clothes were shredded.

"What is that?" Lee asked.

"It's a defence of sorts. My bracers use chakra to become heavier, I can draw upon them to make them lighter and to get a boost in chakra. The problem is that I have so much stored that it pours out of my body because there isn't enough space. I'm controlling the excess to do what Neji's _kaiten _did to Ino. It can't do anything else that the technique can, but when you have a surplus of chakra you may as well use it to your advantage."

Lee nodded in understanding. It was a perfect technique to use against him. He couldn't use ninjutsu and didn't use a weapon to extend his reach and prevent his arms from getting turned to mince meat. He would have to his hard and fast, hoping that he could knock Naruto out before his hands were rendered useless.

Lee rushed at Naruto again faster than ever, he belted Naruto right across the face. Lee didn't stop but pressed his advantage, he was using Naruto as a pinball. Naruto was desperately trying to match the moves, but the boy had him out classed in speed, he needed something to level the field. Naruto could see the incoming blows he simply couldn't avoid those hits, and then it came to him.

'Instead of avoiding, I have to make sure I get maximum contact.'

Lee tried to land a furious blow on Naruto's chest, the blow landed, but instead of Naruto rocketing away, he took Lee with him, an iron like grip on the offending arm.

"ARGH!" Lee screamed out in pure agony as his flesh was slowly grated away, revealing bone in some places. He managed to kick away from Naruto and nurse the savage lacerations on his arm, his hand was limp, indicating that tendons were likely to have been snapped and the wound was bleeding rather heavily. Lee didn't have enough bandaging left on his hand to stem the flow properly.

Naruto recovered from the kick and immediately went on the offense, not trying to land punches, but simply trying to grapple at Lee. Lee was faster than Naruto and managed to evade the blond genin for a time before Naruto stopped.

"Lee, as good as you are at evading me, all you're doing is delaying my victory." Naruto called out.

"What do you mean? I can still win; this is only a flesh wound." Lee called back.

"Lee, if you try a direct attack again then I'll do the same to a different limb; you keep evading, but the longer you do the more you bleed. You'll eventually pass out from blood loss and the longer you leave that wound the harder it will be to heal; you may never be able to use it again."

Lee looked at Naruto with obvious pain in his eyes, not from the arm wound, but from having to make an impossible choice. To fight and win now at the expense of future glory or to take a fall now and live to fight another day.

"Proctor-san, I forfeit." Lee announced.

"The winner of the third match is Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma called to the crowd. The applause was tumultuous. There were even people standing and applauding. Lee immediately sought medical attention while Naruto first turned to the kage box and looked directly at the Sandaime.

The Sandaime caught the look and saw that it was not the hard look of a person bearing a grudge, not many would understand it, but the eyes seemed to show forgiveness and acceptance. The Sandaime tipped his hat in recognition of Naruto's win, earning a massive grin from the blond before he returned to the competitors' area.

"The next match will be between Sasuke Uchiha and Subaku no Gaara. Please join me down in the competition arena." Genma announced. Sasuke took the stairs while Gaara once again opted to sand shunshin down into the arena.

The fourth match, Sasuke Uchiha, Subaku no Gaara, Begin!" Genma called out.

Sasuke wasted no time in going on the offensive, going in with standard Goken techniques.

"You taught your student the Goken? Using the Sharingan I assume?" Gai asked Kakashi, though it sounded more like an accusation.

"Yes, and I am sorry. I realise that people like Lee have had to work extremely hard to get to where they are, I just felt that this would be the only way that he would survive." Gai accepted the apology; he could understand where Kakashi was coming from. After all, he had taught Lee a number of forbidden techniques to make up for his massive handicap.

Apparently, Sasuke had also been worked rather hard in his speed. There was little mistaking the massive speed increase that he had undergone since the end of the preliminaries. He would easily be comparable to Naruto, though not quite as fast as Lee. Sasuke was blurring around a completely stationary Gaara, his sand moving independently to protect the boy from harm.

"Heh, he's never getting past that defence." Kankuro snorted up in the stands. It wasn't as obvious to some, but to better eyes it was becoming clear that the sand couldn't keep up with Sasuke's furious assault as the barrage of kick and punches continued. Then it happened, Sasuke's erratic assault broke through the defence and scored a clean kick to Gaara's face. Temari, Kankuro and Baki were all astonished. More than that they were terrified, Gaara had never been injured before so they had no idea how he was going to react.

Gaara's face curled into a snarl as he made a sudden snapping motion with his hand sending sand into spike to skewer Sasuke. Had Sasuke not had his Sharingan active he might not have dodged the strike.

Gaara was relentless with his attack sending sand as Sasuke at every possible opportunity.

"_Katon: gokakyu no jutsu!" _Sasuke uttered after completing the necessary hand seals for the grand fireball technique. When the blaze had calmed down a great deal of Gaara's sand had crystallised to glass. Before Gaara even had time to make more Sasuke was upon him again, this time unhindered by the sand that was guarding Gaara. Any sand remaining was not enough to mount a proper defence and simply crumbled under Sasuke's assault.

Then in a move very reminiscent of Lee Gaara was kicked into the air by Sasuke, who then flipped Gaara in the air and unleashing a devastating chain of combos.

"_Shishi rendan!" _Sasuke roared. He jumped back to observe the damage his attack had caused, only to see Gaara slowly rising out of the crater the attack had made with what appeared to be cracks all over his skin.

"He managed to shatter Gaara's _suna no tate? _This kid's good." Temari commented, thinking for the first time that Gaara might actually lose.

Gaara's eyes were blood shot and the look on his face promised death for many as he started hand signing.

"I will not lose. I will give your blood to mother to taste. I will not allow my existence to end. I will KILL YOU!" Gaara declared, going into hysterics.

A perfect sphere formed around Gaara, Sasuke rushed in to try and prevent the move only to have more sand spikes launched at him, he dodged but only marginally.

Sasuke leapt back and used the tree climbing technique to stand on the arena wall. Flashing through three hand seals he held his hand in front of him as lightning began to crackle in his hand.

"You also taught him _Chidori?" _Gai questioned, honestly surprised that Kakashi would give away his prized move to a genin.

Kakashi only nodded, not taking his attention away from the action even for a second.

Sasuke rocketed down the wall and across the stadium, his hand extended as though he was going to punch a hole straight through the sand sphere surrounding Gaara.

The suna nin stood by watching the attack doomed to fail, only to have their world toppled upside down as the attack went through followed by a piercing scream from inside.

"ARGH! IS THIS PAIN? WHAT IS THIS? BLOOD?! I'M BLEEDING!" Gaara screamed, a yellow eye visible through the hole that Sasuke had punctured through the sand cocoon.

After a subtle motion from the Kazekage feathers began falling from the sky, putting all of the civilians to sleep as well as a great deal of genin and chuunin, the jounin had not fallen for such a technique, nor had the better trained genin and chuunin.

Within a second of the genjutsu Baki appeared by Gaara, Temari and Kankuro immediately by his side.

"Take Gaara, let him finish his transformation, without him we'll be crushed." He ordered his genin, they gave a sharp nod and whisked their brother away. As they retreated the arena was flooded with ninja from sand and sound, they immediately began their work and started killing anybody they found in their path. The Konoha nin were quick to react in defending their comrades.

Meanwhile the Konoha rookies that were battle ready had all reported to their senseis.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Shino; take Pakkun and go chase after the sand team. The rest of you stay and help defend the arena. Remove all civilians from the area and wake up any Konoha ninja that you happen across. Any and all techniques are permitted on enemy ninja." Kakashi gave his orders and summoned his nin dog Pakkun.

"What's going on?" A voice called over the chaos; it was Yugito Nii and her student Hisa.

"Konoha is under attack." Kakashi looked at the Sandaime who was now at knife point with the Kazekage, the Raikage looking at the ready.

The Kazekage ripped away his face coverings to reveal Orochimaru, the genius student of the Sandaime and one of the sannin.

They watched as a purple barrier was erected by four of Orochimaru's ninja. An ANBU tried to crash through the barrier only to be consumed by a purple fire, his comrades stopping short, settling to simply watch as they could do nothing from this vantage point.

"For now, we will help. Hisa, go along with the team sent after the sand team."

Kakashi looked at the three boys and the Kumo kunoichi for a moment before they got the message and left in chase of the Suna trio.

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"Isn't this a nice little reunion, Sarutobi-sensei?" The Kazekage hissed into the Hokage's ear.

"Orochimaru."

"Good guess, how did you know?" The snake sannin replied, forcing the kunai into the ageing man's neck only for him to dispel in a puff of smoke.

"Well, I really should make the reunion complete, _edotensai!"_ Orochimaru uttered in a harsh voice. Three coffins rose from the ground, each with a different kanji marking on it. One had first, the next had second, it was only then that Sarutobi realised what heinous act his student had committed and desperately tried to stop the last coffin forming. He threw an exploding tag attached to a kunai that detonated on impact. The coffin was obliterated and the Third actually breathed easier for a second.

From the two original coffins emerged the First and Second Hokages, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, Sarutobi's own senseis.

"You've aged monkey." The first greeted.

"It happens with the passage of time, Hashirama-sensei."

"A pity we could not have met once again under better circumstances, Saru-kun." The Second noted.

"Enough of this foolish sentimentality!" Orochimaru snapped, forcing a kunai with a tag bearing seals wrapped around it into each of the summoned Hokage's skulls. Their eyes became hollow as their bodies bent to Orochimaru's will.

The Raikage appeared beside the Sandaime.

"Need a hand with this?" The robust man offered.

"No this is my problem and I will handle it myself, I cannot allow you to risk yourself to come to harm over Konoha's problems, the only thing that can result will be war."

"The way I see it were damned in every sense. Two kages fighting three kage level ninja, there is the point that you raised and the fact that if I don't help then Konoha may want vengeance if I don't assist in the killing of an internationally wanted criminal." The Raikage reasoned.

"If you two gentlemen are quite done can we start?" Orochimaru demanded, going through hand seals.

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"We're not going to be able to out run them, you know that right?" Kankuro voiced to his sister, Temari, as they took a quick break.

The sand siblings had long detected the massive chakra source trailing them and realised that they were being followed.

"We'll be fine." Temari said, though not sure of her words herself.

Naruto, Shino, Sasuke and Hisa were all trailing the sand team, and with the burden of Gaara, the Suna siblings couldn't really move as fast.

"We'd better get moving again." Kankuro said as though he was simply thinking aloud.

Kankuro moved and went to help Gaara, while Temari remained completely stationary.

"You coming or what?" Kankuro half joked.

"I'm staying here, I'm gonna try and hold them off for a bit and give you two some extra time."

Kankuro nodded in understanding, there was nothing that needed to be said between them. He left immediately, hoping for his sister's safety, but not daring to say aloud for fear of being smacked in the head for being 'over emotional'.

Temari didn't have to wait for long before the tracking party showed up.

"Please allow us to pass. We have no intention of hurting you, just preventing whatever it is that you plan do have Gaara do." Shino requested in a calm, almost monotonous voice.

"Sorry, but I can't allow that. Gaara's central to all our plans." Temari retorted standing at the ready with her battle fan.

"Fine then, if you really wanna fight, I'll take you. My friends can move on while I take you down." Sasuke said as he prepared himself to fight.

The others made to move ahead only to be blocked by Temari. Just as she was performing hand seals to use a jutsu she was forced to cancel as Sasuke sent a barrage of shuriken at her.

"I thought I told you, I'm your opponent." Called to her, "Go ahead, you guys, I'll catch up after I'm finished here." He called out to the rest of his teammates, none of them really needing the urging to go ahead.

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Haku had met with the main group of the rookie nine as they were fighting their way through the crowd and defending the citizens present.

"Hatake-san, is there anything that I can do to help." She asked slightly breathily as she sent a senbon into a pressure point of yet another enemy.

"You're not listed as a Konoha ninja, so I technically have order you away from the battle field, in fact I could be severely reprimanded if I _do not._ However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and I'm going to have to ask you to use your skills as a medic to treat any wounded Konoha citizens you may come across."

Haku nodded and noted the wording, it wasn't a request to treat either the civilians over the shinobi, or vice versa, just to treat anyone of Konoha that she came across. She set out to do her work, taking back some of the senbon needles she had embedded in some one's neck.

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"_Doton: doryuheki!" _The Sandaime called out as a wall of mud formed in front of him protecting him from the flaming dragon Orochimaru had sent his way, his reprieve was short lived as he had to jump to dodge tree growth coming from the ground, courtesy of the Shodaime Hokage.

The Raikage was currently engaged in a taijutsu match with the Nidaime and was more than holding his own. Both the Hokage and the Raikage had realised that the warriors Orochimaru had summoned were more than simple summons. Both kages had succeeded in mangling their opponents in some way. The Raikage by sending a particularly brutal punch overloaded with electrical energy as his opponent's left arm, the Hokage scorched the right half of his opponent into nothing through the use of _karyuendan_, only for both injuries to heal within a matter of seconds.

"Do not interfere." Orochimaru ordered the Shodaime, as he appeared to gag on something deep within his throat. Sarutobi already knew what has coming and prepared his own technique.

"_Kuchiyose:_ _Enkouou Enma__**."**_

In a puff of smoke a wild looking ape appeared, surveying the battle field.

"Is that your traitorous student, Sarutobi?"

"Yes, Enma-sama."

"Isn't that Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama?" Enma demanded, looking livid.

"Yes, He used a forbidden jutsu to summon them here, he almost got Yondaime-sama here as well."

"This is UNFORGIVABLE!" Enma roared as he transformed into the adamantine staff.

Sarutobi took hold of the staff as Orochimaru had completely summoned the legendary Kusanagi sword.

"Be warned, Sarutobi, even in this form, I don't think I have the power to fully withstand the Kusanagi."

A tightened grip around the staff was the only acknowledgement that Enma received.

***********************************************************************************************************

Temari was starting to realise just how much of a mismatch this was for her; Sasuke had an arsenal of fire jutsu more than competent to make her wind jutsu flounder, he was faster than her and could easily get inside the distance she set to use her techniques and to top it all off that Sharingan made it as though he knew her moves before she did, he had dodged everything easily and she hadn't landed a single strike.

"I think we're gonna have to hurry this up. My friends are gonna need me and I don't want to leave them at the mercy of your brother." Sasuke said decisively, getting ready to end is match with Temari.

"_Mercy of my brother?_"Temari mimicked, "My brother doesn't show mercy to anyone. He's gonna kill all your little friends before you even get there." She sneered.

Sasuke chose not to respond and just stood at the ready. He moved in on Temari as she sent another wave of wind from her fan at him, laced with blades of chakra. Sasuke wove in and around the blades, not giving Temari the time to counter he sent her high into the air with a fierce uppercut. He got ahead of her flight path and appeared right over her, stopping her motion with an elbow to the stomach. In the instant that her body had stopped rising, but gravity hadn't yet taken effect, Sasuke clubbed her with a double fisted punch, hitting her like a mallet and sending her back to ground. Before she could land he nailed her right on the spine with a knee, very much how she had done to Tenten with the butt of her fan. The final blow came as he grabbed her head while she was still slightly suspended and smashed it into a nearby tree, his hand not letting go until he felt her body crumple as she went unconscious.

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Elsewhere in the city a giant three-headed snake had breached the city walls and was now wreaking havoc in the civilians section of the village. The Ninja in the area had tried many methods of defeating the beast, from exploding tags and even high powered jutsu, but the snake seemed all but impervious to damage.

The Suna nin allied with Oto had poured in, while the sand ninja focused their efforts on the shinobi, avoiding civilians death, the nin from sound cut down all before them indiscriminately.

"Well now, we can't have this. I'll take care of the summon, the rest of you deal with the invasion forces." A voice called over the chaos to the Konoha ninja.

"Jiraiya-sama! Thank god!" One of the ninja called out as he recognised the legendary figure.

"_Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu!"_ Jiraiya intoned harshly, summoning a giant toad to land on the three headed snake, crushing it and dispelling it and sending it back to the summoning realm.

"The rest of you go and fight, defend our city, show them the will of fire and prevail." Jiraiya rallied, the surrounding nin looking more determined than ever.

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The fight between Sarutobi and Orochimaru was a sight to behold, not many could say that they had ever witnessed a fight between two kage level ninja. The fight itself was very even. Orochimaru was a very slippery character and managed to evade the blows that the Sandaime was sending his way, while Sarutobi managed to parry the opportunistic strikes that Orochimaru made.

Down in the stands Haku was tending to a wounded shinobi as she briefly watched the pair fight. The skills on display were on a whole other level, not even Zabuza could come close to matching those skills. Was this really what it meant to be a kage? If so then it was little surprise that Zabuza had lost so easily to the previous Mizukage.

Sarutobi was fast getting sick of this game of him striking, Orochimaru dodging and countering, him parrying and striking again, with the whole chain starting over. He struck out one more time, but this time a feint, a poorly veiled one at that. Orochimaru read the feint as Sarutobi had expected and came in for the strike that he had intentionally left himself open for. Just as Orochimaru's blade closed on Sarutobi, the old man made to make another attack, with his longer reaching weapon, it would still force Orochimaru to block in time or else have the staff smash into his head and either kill him or render him unconscious. Orochimaru, made to block the hit, there was no way that he could avoid, unfortunately for the snake sannin it was another feint, this time far better concealed than the first. With a subtle change in his stance, the Hokage retracted his staff and speared the butt of his staff into his former student's arms.

The motion was so swift that it barely gave Orochimaru time to react, the most he could do was lessen the damage about to be done, none the less the staff still smashed into Orochimaru's hands, breaking the thumb and index finger as well as forcing the sword out of his hands.

Orochimaru jumped back out of range as Sarutobi gave chase. All of a sudden, both the Raikage and the Hokage's vision went black, instantly recognising his sensei's genjutsu the Hokage made his decision.

"Raikage-sama, I thank you for all your effort, but it really does seem that I must shoulder Konoha's problems on my own." The Hokage addressed his guest for the chuunin exams before addressing his errant student.

"Orochimaru, you claim to be a master of jutsu, but there is one jutsu you are yet to see, the jutsu that defeated the nine tailed fox over thirteen years ago. _Kage bunshin no jutsu._" Sarutobi called out with a ferocity and determination that he had not possessed before.

His two clones ran off and grasped the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages, holding them still as Sarutobi performed nine hand seals in quick succession.

"_Shiki fuin!"_

The true Sarutobi ran off and grabbed his student-turned-enemy, a true testament to the aging man; being able to do so through a jutsu that rendered eyesight useless.

"What the hell is this, you old fool?" Orochimaru screeched.

"You summoned two warriors that are dead to do your fighting, so I took it to the next level and summoned the death god himself. Shinigami-sama will devour both our souls, the threat you pose to our world ends now Orochimaru, I only lament that I had not done this earlier." Sarutobi said as Orochimaru watch the Shinigami's form appear before his old sensei.

The Shinigami reached through the both Sarutobi clones and grasped what appeared to be the souls of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. As he removed his hand the layer of dust crumbled away, revealing Dosu and Zaku, the boys originally competing in the chuunin exams.

"You sacrificed your genin to get to me? Those that put their absolute trust in you? You truly are a fiend; I will gladly trade my life to end yours." The Hokage snarled.

Just as the Shinigami made to reach through and grab Orochimaru, the snake man manipulated the Kusanagi blade from some distance away so that it was poised to pierce Sarutobi.

The Raikage had been watching the byplay, he saw the blade rise almost as though it had a will of its own, he saw it move to skewer Sarutobi. There was nothing that the Hokage could do about the situation, the Raikage was racing to catch the blade, but it was moving at incredible speed. The best that the Raikage could do was catch the blade at the hilt, just before it struck Sarutobi, but the extra momentum meant that it still managed to pierce the Hokage.

"Ha, now you will not survive this technique you foolish old man." Orochimaru taunted.

"Foolish pupil, I was never intending to survive. This technique requires my very soul because I am taking you with me into the belly of the Shinigami." Sarutobi smiled wearily. The blade in his back had not created a deep cut, but the poison on the blade would be a problem if not treated properly; none-the-less it seemed as though it was irrelevant as Sarutobi had resigned himself to death.

Orochimaru and Sarutobi struggled for a while longer as Sarutobi tried to keep his strength for the Shinigami to complete its work.

"It seems that I don't have the strength to seal your soul completely, so I'm going to take that from you which you adore the most; your arms. You will no longer be able to use jutsu anymore. Goodbye my errant student." Sarutobi said his goodbyes and allowed the jutsu to run its course.

Instead of the Shinigami consuming his soul as expected, the Sandaime and Orochimaru both felt an intense burning pain in their arms, both were left with blackened arms, neither noticing the colour as they passed out due to the immense pain of having their arms sealed within the Shinigami.

Orochimaru's four body guard that had erected the barrier quickly grabbed their master and fled the scene, the ANBU rushing in to provide what aid they could before realising that they would have to send him to the hospital for immediate treatment.

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"Gaara, I'm gonna have to let you go on your own. I'm gonna hang back to give you some more time" Kankuro said to Gaara. If the red head had heard, he gave no indication and simply moved on.

Kankuro was not kept waiting for too long as the remaining three humans of the tracking party and Pakkun made it to where he was only a few short minutes after Gaara had left.

"Well, you got this far, but this is the end of the line for you punks." Kankuro greeted.

Naruto looked at their opponent before speaking up.

"He was supposed to be your opponent in the exams, so you two should take him. I'm gonna go on and stop Gaara." Naruto said to his team members.

Shino merely nodded and settled into his ready position.

"You make sure you come back from that. Yugito-sensei seems fond of you, if you don't come back she's gonna kill you for dying and then she'll kill me for letting it happen."

Naruto only raised his hand in acknowledgement, much as he had when he was saying goodbye outside Ichiraku's only a few days ago.

Kankuro wasted little time in getting started, realising that in a two on one he would need every opportunity he could get; one could occupy his puppet while the other got within range to do some serious damage.

Kankuro launched some poison kunai directly at his opponents, hoping to catch them of guard as they looked at their blond teammate heading off in Gaara's direction. He wasn't all that surprised when both opponents dodge the incoming hail.

"Well didn't hurt to try any way." He thought out loud.

Hisa formed the hand seals for her _raimari_ and sent the ball of electricity at Kankuro, only for him to dodge out of the way; his retreat was quickly covered by Shino who sent a trio of kunai his way. Having no other real option, Kankuro had to manoeuvre Karasu in front of the incoming kunai to avoid taking the hit, fortunately Karasu was a fairly durable puppet and Kankuro had tended to it well. Karasu opened its mouth and exhaled a noxious gas at Shino, blocking his vision. Shino instantly recognised the gas as poisonous and moved to a different area.

In the meantime, Kankuro had his puppet chasing after Hisa, launching kunai after poisoned kunai at her and giving her little time to use jutsu other than the occasional _kawarimi_. Relief came her way when Shino had once again found Kankuro and re-entered the battle, giving her a moment to breathe as he sent more kunai at Kankuro, though they were easily dodged. The bug user was getting tired of the game of cat and mouse so he spread his kikai over the forest.

Kankuro used another burst from Karasu to both obscure Shino's vision as well as try and poison him. Imagine Kankuro's surprise when the puppet didn't respond as he expected, then he noticed that one of his chakra threads wasn't attached to Karasu.

"Kikai are interesting creatures, the only nourishment that they require is chakra, chakra in any form." Shino explained to Kankuro as the boy in the cat suit watched his puppet fall to the ground lifeless without any strings to control it. So distracted by what he had seen, he failed to notice Hisa appear behind him until it was far too late; by then she already had a _raimari_ formed and plunged it into the base of his neck.

"That damage won't be permanent, but it will fry any control he had over his nerves for a good while." Hisa told Shino, who simply nodded.

"We should catch up to Naruto; he is likely to need our assistance in stopping Gaara." Shino replied, already motioning to move out and catch Naruto.

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"Gaara, stop. You don't have to do this." Naruto called to Gaara, trying to reason with him and hoping to avoid a fight.

"No...you won't...stop my...existence. I will prove that I am alive...BY KILLING YOU." Gaara had lost all grasp of sanity as his sand formed around him, taking on the appearance of a Tanuki across one half of his body.

"S_una Shuriken!" _Gaara practically growled as he sent shurikens made of sand at Naruto, who dodged the incoming projectiles with ease.

Naruto sent his own kunai back in return, but realised shortly after that the move was futile as Gaara raised his sand encased arm to block them, looking as though he had taken no damage from the assault. It was then that Naruto realised that he would have to use only the best in his arsenal.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu!"_ Naruto called out, three clones appearing next to him. Simultaneously all Naruto's present went through hand seals. The clones announce their jutsu in unison, slightly before the original.

"_Katon: endan no jutsu!"_ Three separate fireballs of average size raced towards Gaara just as the true Naruto finished his jutsu.

"_Fuuton: daitoppa!"_ The wind generated jutsu caught the three average sized fireballs and amalgamated them into one blazing inferno.

When the heat haze had cleared and it was possible to see again, there was a 5 metre high wall of glass between Gaara and Naruto, the red head had sent out his sand to take the brunt of the attack while some glass crystals could be seen falling away from Gaara's face and arm.

Naruto watched as Gaara sent some of his sand into the ground and create more sand of the deranged boy to use. If he had been watching more closely he would have seen the small granules spread further underground that he would have liked. The ground under Naruto's feet softened as the blond realised just how far out Gaara was seeking sand, the ground beneath Naruto collapsed, quickly encasing him in a sand cocoon.

"_Subaku Sousou!" _Gaara uttered, intent on crushing the blond, Naruto viciously started pumping out, chakra to prevent himself from being crushed. If he died he'd be reborn and likely be unconscious afterwards and then he couldn't do a damn thing to stop Gaara and there was no way that he was letting the blood crazed boy destroy his home. Then he felt it, that familiar feral urge that he had felt in the Forest of Death.

Naruto didn't even try to resist, he embraced the feeling, allowing his body to expand and harden, his golden scales gleaming in the sun. Naruto's scales were too tough, even the likes of Gaara's crushing sand could not even force a dent in the hard scales.

Naruto rushed Gaara, his claws slicing everything that came into contact into ribbons. Gaara managed to dodge the initial slice, but couldn't dodge the follow up swing that came from the Naruto's thick tail. The bone crushing blow sent Gaara flying, though the red head looked almost unfazed. He got up and tried to renew his attack, the _suna shuriken _proving as ineffectual as the _subaku sousou_.

Naruto unleashed a gout of flame, flapping his wings as he did to increase the intensity of the inferno. Gaara had seen the fire and realised that his only option was to dodge. He moved through trees, desperately trying to get away from the chasing flames. Gaara was getting outside of Naruto's range, so the transformed genin gave chase.

It wasn't hard for Naruto to catch up, where Gaara had to avoid the trees, Naruto simply crashed through the undergrowth, making his own pathway. When he caught up to Gaara he tried one again to rend the boy with his claws, Gaara was only dodging those claws that promised death by a hair's breadth each time.

More than once Naruto managed to nail the boy with either a back hand or a solid hit with his tail, yet the boy seemed to rise again and again. It was getting to the point that the dense scrubland that they were originally fighting in had turned into a flat clearing.

"You…you will not cease my existence. I will give you blood to mother!" Gaara said, looking directly at Naruto's slit eyes.

"_Tanuki neiri no jutsu!" _Gaara practically whispered while glaring maniacally atNaruto. The Suna ninja fell asleep and left the control of his body to the demon sealed within him.

"I'm free, I'm free, I'm free." the demon nattered as sand continually accumulated around it, causing it to grow in size.

The sand demon kept growing until it towered above the trees.

'Naruto, you have to wake up the boy; it's the only way to get him control over his body again.' Rei's voice seemed to ring clearer in Naruto's mind than ever before.

Naruto rushed in, slicing at the Tanuki's leg and causing it to collapse, only for it to reform a moment later. He tried to turn as much of the sand beast into glass as possible, only to have the Tanuki gather more sand by crushing the rocks around them. No matter what Naruto tried, it seemed it was futile as the Shukaku had an answer for everything.

Naruto could slowly feel his power ebbing away, the final moments of his transformation came and he reverted back into his usual human form.

"_Doton: yomi numa!" _Naruto cried, hoping that liquefying the ground might slow the demon down. He was right, but his advantage was short lived as the Shukaku literally began reshaping the earth so that it would have solid ground to stand on.

'Rei, I'm gonna need some power.' Naruto said to his internal companion.

'Take whatever you need and win.' was Rei's response as his system flooded with youkai.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _Naruto called out, summoning Tobifushicho, the phoenix boss.

"Naruto, is that the Ichibi no Shukaku?" the giant phoenix asked, taking stock of the situation immediately.

"It is, it's taken over the body of his container. I need your help to get me close enough to him so I can knock Gaara awake."

"Very well then, use you chakra to stick to me, this will be a rather rough ride." Naruto received little warning as Tobifushicho had already taken wing to avoid the incoming _suna shuriken_ sent their way by the Shukaku.

The Shukaku was firing sand left right and centre in an attempt to knock the phoenix out of the sky. Tobifushicho was far more agile than he looked, being able to dodge every one of the incoming attack with rolls and barrels. The problem with all of this aerial acrobatics was that it wasn't getting Naruto any closer to Gaara, who was clearly visibly on the sand demon's head, completely unconscious.

"No, I just got out; you're not making me go back. I won't let you." The Shukaku raged as it continually fire blasts of sand at Naruto and his summon.

The Shukaku, getting tired of missing simply decided to use and _en masse_ attack and sent a veritable mountain of sand at the pair, the sand was seeking them out as the higher the phoenix boss climbed, the higher the sand seemed to follow. It caught onto one of Tobifushicho's talons and progressed up from there like a bad rash. In a burst of desperation the boss launched a molten fire ball at the sand, incinerating anything that even when near the ball, when it touched ground everything within a fifteen meter radius was simply vaporised.

"Are you able to get directly above it?" Naruto asked.

There was no verbal response, but his summon manoeuvred above the giant sand demon, waiting to see what the blond had planned.

Naruto simply took a running jump off of the great phoenix and plummeted towards the sand demon waiting below. He would not be allowed to progress unhindered though, as sand tendrils came up to meet his descent. Tobifushicho had Naruto covered and with a mighty flap of his wings increased Naruto's fall speed; the sand didn't have time to react to sudden increase in pace, not that it matter as much of it was blown back by the gust.

Naruto braced himself for impact as he neared the demon, fortunately the sand absorbed most of the impact and Naruto had a far softer landing than one would have expected.

He raced up the sand monolith, desperately trying to reach Gaara's sleeping form, the sand was not making it any easier, grasping at his feet and putting barriers in his way. More than once he had to turn the sand to glass and then crash through it.

He had finally made it to Gaara's sleeping form, without hesitation, Naruto smashed his fist into Gaara's face. The boy woke up stunned.

"You're still alive? But the Shukaku should have killed you." Gaara said, feeling true fear for the first time in his life.

Before gravity could truly take effect Naruto grabbed Gaara and sent him hurtling towards the earth. Gaara landed with a crash, Naruto followed not long after, each boy leaving a small indentation in the earth.

"You…who are you?" Gaara asked, truly freaked by this stage, "No, stay away, don't come any closer. I don't want to die." Gaara was truly panicked as he saw Naruto edge closer.

"I'm not going to kill you. I just wanted to see that you were okay. I'd hate to have to kill someone like me." Naruto said weakly.

"Like you? You mean…? Is that why you are so strong" Gaara's eyes widened in realisation.

"No my strength comes from my desire to protect. As long as I breathe I will protect those precious to me, even if it means killing someone I'd rather not have to kill."

"You are a strange one Uzum…ARGH!" Midsentence Gaara's eye's rolled into the back of his head, screaming in agony.

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Temari and Kankuro had managed to overcome their injuries enough to help each other to the scene of the fight, they had seen Naruto summon the giant phoenix, they saw the aerial acrobatics resulting in Naruto landing on the sand demon and they saw the boy wake up their brother from his slumber. Now they watched in terror as their brother was screaming like a man possessed, given his situation, something that was entirely possible.

A short distance away Naruto's three teammates were watching on, waiting for the time that they might need to retrieve their friend from the dangerous situation.

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Naruto watched in horror as he heard the rasping vice of the Shukaku.

"NO…I will not go back so easily…I will have my freedom, even if it means devouring this boy's soul." The voice rasped.

'Rei, what's happening?'

'While it is a conception that demons are evil, we aren't. The Shukaku has had her mind twisted almost beyond recognition. She's now trying to get her freedom by killing that boy's soul and taking permanent residence. Something she would have never done if she had her sanity.

Naruto watched helplessly as his friends came down to retrieve him. Naruto didn't want this, nobody deserved this; a boy about to lose his soul because a normally gentle being was acting like a psychotic killer, everything just seemed so wrong.

He tried to speak out in his grief, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat, it was as though it was resisting him, then in a moment of clarity, a part of his mother's letter to him came to mind.

'_Arguably the most powerful ability is our gift of using galdrar'_

Naruto stopped trying and something seemed to flow out from him. He felt calm and his voice started to sing of its own accord. The arcane song was beautiful, yet haunting. Gaara's body seemed to tense, before it relaxed. His eyes rolled back to their normal position before he fell asleep.

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Nearby, Sasuke was in immense pain as his curse mark suddenly activated, just as suddenly as it had activated, it started receding; a foul black mist coming off of the mark on his neck. At some point the boy passed out through the process, though those watching soon realised that the strange mark on his neck had evaporated away with the black mist.

Naruto was experiencing a similar event as the final tomoe from his curse mark dissipated. He passed out immediately after the song was complete, leaving his teammates to carry him back to the village. Temari and Kankuro quickly dropped down and picked up Gaara, whisking him away without a look back.

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Back in the village the joint sand and sound invasion had been crushed. Without either the summoned snake or Gaara, the main offense was crippled; the invading shinobi soon found that they were no match for higher skills and better team work of the Konoha ninja, despite the larger number that they possessed.

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Many watched as Shino carried Sasuke back into town while Hisa had Naruto slung over her shoulders.

They were soon joined by Ibiki, the proctor of the first exam.

"What happened to those two?" Ibiki demanded.

"We're not entirely sure. We were given a mission to stop the sand genin from assisting in the invasion. At the end, Naruto fought Gaara to a standstill after Gaara had turned into the Shukaku." Hisa informed.

There was a stunned silence from the crowd before someone was heard muttering 'not surprising; takes one to beat one' followed by a murmur of assent.

"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!" Ibiki roared at the crowd, "EVEN NOW YOU SCORN THIS BOY WHEN YOU SHOULD BE HAILING HIM A HERO. GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Ibiki was sick and tired of stupid prejudices. Anko Mitarashi was hated for her simple association with Orochimaru, a man she now hated with a burning passion.

"Take them all to the hospital, they can get treated there." Ibiki ordered before he moved on to perform other duties.

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In the stands of the chuunin exam finals arena many of the rookie twelve were slumped around the stands, exhausted from repelling enemy forces. Haku and Sakura were still at work trying to heal as many wounded as possible; both were aware that the lines in the hospital would be horrendous and that any preliminary work would ease the burden in the long run.

"Sakura, Haku, take a break." Kurenai smiled at the girls, "It's best if we just get them to the hospital, otherwise you two are going to run the risk of chakra exhaustion." The girls gratefully collapsed on the floor, desperate for a break.

"What happened to Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.

"He, Sasuke, Shino and Hisa, the Kumo kunoichi, chased after the sand team. They should be fine." Kakashi told Haku.

"Fine? Are you serious, did you not see that giant sand monster in the distance? That had to be Gaara's doing?" Kiba voiced his concerns.

"Did you see the giant phoenix that was there to fight it?" Sai chimed in.

"That would likely have been Naruto." Kakashi said dryly, "Like I said, he and the others will be fine"

Not a moment later and ANBU with a cat mask appeared with a brief message.

"Kakashi-senpai, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame and a Kumo kunoichi have appeared in town. Naruto and Sasuke are both unconscious but otherwise fine. Shino and the Kumo girl carried them back." The cat ANBU shunshined away after delivering the message.

"I hate to say it, but, _I told you so." _Kakashi directed at Kiba. "In any case, this place is secure and there are enough ANBU to take care of anything that could crop up. We may as well head back to the village." There were collective moans and groans, even from a few of the jounin as they all moved to comply with Kakashi's words.

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Temari and Kankuro watched Gaara cautiously as he roused from his sleep. They watched in trepidation as his eyes came into focus.

"Gaara?" Temari tried cautiously.

Gaara looked at the source and saw his older sister, he didn't see hatred in those eyes; he saw concern, concern for a little brother. Then his eyes shifted to Kankuro, and saw relief and regret rolled into one, relief that he was okay; regret that he wasn't a better older brother.

"Are you feeling better?" Kankuro asked, genuinely worried, perhaps for the first time, about his brother's wellbeing.

"For the first time, for as long as I can remember, I can't hear the Shukaku, begging for blood. It's so quiet now, I can think properly." Gaara said almost as though he was thinking out loud.

Neither Temari nor Kankuro knew what to make of this; they simply waited for Gaara to continue.

"Temari, Kankuro; I'm sorry." Such simple words, yet they had such a profound effect. Temari actually cried with joy as both she and Kankuro moved to hug their younger brother, for the first time ever, the sand didn't move to protect Gaara, it allowed the contact and Gaara felt his first true hug.

'Naruto Uzumaki…thank you.' Was all Gaara could think as he was enveloped in warmth from both his older brother and sister.

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**Chapter End**

Well, I was supposed to release this in uni break, but that went down the toilet as I had to re-sit 2 exams that I failed, just simply because of _**VERY**_ stupid mistakes.

In any case the next chapter is already under way.

Also I have a question for all of you. Would you prefer I released more regularly at the expense of chapter size? For example if I were to release every 2-3 weeks instead of 2-3 months. The chapters would be about 2,000-3,000 words rather than 9,000-10, 000. Answer in a review if you really care enough, if nobody bothers then I'll just assume I should keep it the same.

Oh and props to any one that can pick the _Monty Python and the Holy Grail _reference.

Finally the Galdr (though it hasn't actually been discussed thus far in my story) was the Galdr of Rebirth. For those interested in what the song sounds like then visit the youtube link below

.com/watch?v=w_0JfNkcClU

Till next time.

Cheers,  
Fish.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 12**

Thanks to all those that responded, to those that made suggestions; I will endeavour to work on the areas that you suggested, sorry if you don't see immediate improvement as I think it's gonna be difficult to kick some habits.

On a side note to those people that did review, I tried to respond to quite a number, but for some reason the site kept telling me that I wasn't the author of this story so I didn't have permission to respond. I won't respond here, it'll take too long, but in any case, thanks again guys.

Also looking at how the chapter published earlier the YouTube link didn't show up as intended so I'll repost it

.com/watch?v=w_0JfNkcClU

If it doesn't post again properly then I'll just put it in my profile and people can look there if they want to hear it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Nine of Sasuke and Sakura's graduating friends were standing around their beds, checking on their progress; the only person missing was Naruto, who had his own separate room on an entirely different floor. Sasuke regained consciousness about a day after the invasion ended; his stay in the hospital was made more bearable by Sakura and the occasional visits by his friends.

Their jounin sensei were also in the room, though were hanging back to allow their genin some freedom to talk.

"So, do you have any idea what happened?" Asuma asked Kakashi.

"Not really; only the report from Shino and Hisa of Kumo as well as Sasuke after he woke up. I'll need to wait for Naruto to wake up so we can talk to him." Kakashi responded, entirely confused about what power could remove Orochimaru's cursed mark.

"Anko has been rather antsy these days." Kurenai informed, "It's hardly surprising though; this is the first time anyone has ever heard of that mark being removed completely. She likely wants to know if the same can be done for her." Kurenai continued.

"Well we'll have to wait for Naruto to come round so we can get some answers. I'm just glad Father came to a few days ago; the restoration has been going much more smoothly with him in charge. I don't think that he's going to be able to carry out the duties of kage for much longer though, not with those arms." Asuma surmised.

"Alright you guys, we'll go pay Naruto a quick visit, then we have work to get back to," he received nods as the group milled out, "and Sasuke, we'll be waiting for you when you get released, get some rest for now though." Kakashi addressed his student as he walked out to visit his little brother.

"Damn, this is so troublesome." Shikamaru whined as he trudged up the stairs.

"Why does Naruto have his own room anyway?" Kiba asked.

"Naruto's been in the hospital more times than most, so to make things easier they gave him his own room." Kakashi replied.

"He's been here that many times? How the hell did that happen?" Kiba questioned, not really getting the tense atmosphere.

"Plain stupidity." Kakashi replied, hardly veiling his anger for the true reasons, Fortunately Kiba did manage to pick up on something this time and backed off.

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In Naruto's room Haku was spending her lunch break by the boy's bedside. He was fit in every possible sense of the word, yet he remained comatose for reasons unknown.

"Naruto-kun, wake up; please come back to me." Haku whispered as she held his hand. She'd spent every minute that she wasn't on duty, waiting in his room. She ate and even slept there, waiting for him to wake up so that she could see that charming smile of his once again.

Kakashi peered inside the room and saw Haku gripping his little brother's hand. He smiled to himself, before turning to the rest of the group.

"Naruto's already got a visitor; I don't think they'd appreciate it if we barged in on them right now. We'll come back another time." Kakashi said quietly, so Haku wouldn't be alerted to their presence.

"Does that mean that he's awake then?" Ino enquired hopefully.

"No, it just means that I don't think that we should interrupt right now." Kakashi replied as he started walking away and towards a nearby open window.

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_MINDSCAPE_

_Rei was kneeling with Naruto's head resting in her lap. He was conscious here, but so very weak._

"_So that was the power of a galdr." Rei said to him._

"_Yeah…it sure…took the life outta me." Naruto said, his speech coming in bursts as he was drained._

_Rei simply nodded, his words were not inaccurate, immediately after he used the galdr he appeared in the mindscape, unconscious. Apparently it took quite an amount of energy; then she remembered what Kushina's letter had said._

'The galdr is a song laced with our chakra that can have many powerful effects, depending on the song and the one singing.'

_Perhaps this was just the after effects of chakra exhaustion. _

_While in his mindscape, Naruto had come to understand that the last tomoe of his curse mark had been destroyed, true to Rei's words, Naruto could no longer feel the evil taint within his body; something that he was grateful for._

"_I need to talk with one of my summons. I need to find out what that was." Naruto said weakly._

"_Yes, but for now rest, get back to the real world. There are people worrying about you. I'm worried about you; this isn't normal, you being so lifeless. You're the one that brightens everybody else's day." Rei said to Naruto, gently stoking his golden hair as she watched him._

_Naruto couldn't say any more, he simply fell asleep._

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Konoha's restoration was coming along spectacularly despite the major blow it had suffered. Much of the damage done to the city was structural, though that could not compare to the emotional damage dealt to those who had lost loved ones through the course of the invasion.

A memorial service was held for those that had died, with no less than twenty new names being engraved on the Heroes Monument. It was a chance for many to say goodbye and to strengthen their resolve to live as their loved one would have wanted, to move on, but never forget.

Even those not from the village but still remaining within the city walls turned up to pay their respects, to honour those that had fallen while protecting their beloved city. Hisa Haiboruto, Yugito Nii and the Raikage had all appeared to pay their respects, those out on missions while the service was on stopped by the Hero Monument to pay their tributes before returning to the restoration effort. ***********************************************************************************************************

It was dark when Naruto came to; he felt a slight pressure around his stomach, looking down he saw Haku fast asleep, still holding his hand. He squeezed her hand gently before slipping out of the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping beauty.

Naruto slipped out of the hospital through his room window, ignoring the fact that his hospital gown was fluttering in the wind. He made it to one of the local training grounds when he pushed out a small amount of chakra while performing the necessary hand seals for the summoning jutsu.

In a small smoke cloud Shinme, the messenger for the phoenix clan, appeared.

"Shinme-san, I was hoping you could help me with something." Naruto began; Shinme remained silent, waiting for Naruto to continue.

"The other day, I was fighting a boy who had a crazed demon sealed within him. Just as I thought the fight was over, the demon tried to take over the boy's body in a bid to gain freedom. That was when I started singing; I wasn't really in control at the time, though I feel like I could do it again if I needed." Naruto said all in one breath.

"It sounds as though you managed to use a galdr." Shinme started, though sounding somewhat unsure. "To be perfectly honest I don't know much about them, you would be best of summoning Shizuka-sama, she knows the most about galdr, aside from perhaps Tobifushicho-sama." Shinme finished, definite about what he was saying now.

"How do I…" Naruto started, trailing off at the end.

"Simple, instead of just simply summoning, call her name when you perform the jutsu, she will come. Remember though, you will need to use a fair amount of chakra, she is larger than me." Naruto nodded in understanding, "Well if there is nothing further then I'll dismiss myself." Shinme saw the head shake from Naruto and dispelled.

Not bothering to waste any time Naruto tried to summon Shizuka.

"_Kuchiyose: Shizuka."_ Naruto called, using perhaps two thirds the chakra necessary to summon the phoenix boss. A phoenix appeared before him, completely golden in colour.

"Shizuka-sama?" Naruto tried tentatively in case he had messed up and called the wrong phoenix.

"Correct. You are Naruto, I presume?" Shizuka's voice sounded beautiful to Naruto, it made him completely relax.

"I am, I need to ask you about something." Naruto said.

"Ask away then." The golden phoenix replied, at her invite Naruto recounted what he had told Shinme, adding in that it got rid of his cursed mark and seemed to calm Gaara while he was singing.

"It appears that you managed to learn the Galdr of Rebirth. Galdr only make themselves known to a phoenix when there is a need for them, you simply cannot learn them as every person sings the same galdr slightly differently." Shizuka informed.

Naruto nodded in understanding, waiting for more information.

"The galdr of rebirth revives the soul, a twisted soul will be returned to normal."

'Naruto could I speak with Shizuka?' Reis voice rang in Naruto's head.

"Shizuka-sama, do you mind if I bring a third person into this?" After getting the okay from the phoenix Naruto called Rei out of his mindscape and into the real world.

Rei introduced herself before wording her question.

"Shizuka-sama, the curse mark that Naruto speaks of, it is actually a part of a man's soul injected with chakra into another's being. How does the galdr of rebirth affect such a man, but not me, we are essentially the same." Rei asked, confused about the selectivity of the song.

"To put it simply, the song only affects those that it is designed to affect. The Galdr of Rebirth wasn't designed to affect sealed souls, just twisted souls. This man's soul was purged from your body because your body recognised it as something so tainted as to be beyond redemption. There is also the fact that the singer also has some control over who the song affects. In some cases there may be people nearby that you don't want the galdr to effect so you can concentrate, and the song will not affect them." Shizuka explained.

"Right, I'd also like to know why the galdr took so much out of me." Naruto looked hopeful that Shizuka could answer this as well.

"Basically, you were using the strength of your own soul to purify another; the demon in this boy."

"So my soul is weak? Is that it?" Naruto asked, somewhat disheartened.

"Haha…hardly, it's just that you weren't prepared, it will become easier in the future. Also, it will help if you have someone to sing with to strengthen the effect. If you ever need to sing it again, simply summon me, I will be able to help." The phoenix reassured.

"Is there anything else?" Shizuka asked. Naruto finally understanding something about his clan's talent simply shook his head and the phoenix dismissed herself.

"Perhaps we should head back to the hospital." Rei suggested.

"Please…Stay out here." Naruto requested, even if nothing was said between them, just having Rei there was comforting.

***********************************************************************************************************

Haku woke to find that the bed she had stayed beside for the past few days was now empty.

"Naruto-kun? Naruto-kun?" Haku called out, slightly panicked, then she heard the door open.

"Haku-san, what's all the noise about, you do realise that people are sick and trying to rest." It was Megumi, her sensei.

"Naruto-kun is missing." She said, slightly hysterical. Just as she finished her sentence Naruto burst through the open window in his room, Rei following slightly after.

Haku turned to the disturbance, on guard immediately, as soon as she recognised the person she dropped her guard and tackled the person in a hug.

"Naruto-kun, you awake." She greeted happily, her voice muffled as her face was pressed into his chest as she hugged him.

The hug suddenly got a lot tighter.

"Why did you make me worry like that?" She growled.

"Eheh…sorry about that, I didn't mean to make you worry…Haku-chan that's really starting to hurt…Haku-cha…" Naruto stopped midsentence as breathing became difficult. Megumi just sweat dropped as her student went from slightly hysterical, to overjoyed at the boy's recovery, to slightly scary and then back to overjoyed again.

"I'm going now." Megumi voiced.

"Same here." Rei followed suit as one woman left through the door, the other left in a puff of smoke.

The hug had become slightly less tight and Naruto could breathe again.

"I'm sorry; it's just that I needed some questions answered. I planned on being back before you woke, you looked too peaceful to disturb." Haku blushed slightly at his words but otherwise ignored it.

"Your friends have been visiting. You along with Sasuke and Sakura." Haku informed the blond.

"Sasuke? Why is he in here?" Naruto asked, surprised that Sasuke need to go to hospital after his bout with Temari.

"He was there when you were finishing your fight with that sand boy; Gaara, I think that's what Shino called him. Shino said that he saw some mark disappear from his neck." Haku continued, filling in some of the blanks for Naruto.

"So Sasuke's got removed too? That's awesome." Naruto said.

"What got removed?" Haku asked.

Naruto took her back and they both sat down, Naruto on the bed, Haku on her chair and Naruto explained everything that happened in the forest, leaving nothing out, then he explained how they had chased Gaara and everything that entailed.

After he was done, Haku just sat in stunned silence. After all, what did you say to all that?

"You should know, everyone says they're looking through potential candidates for Hokage." Haku told Naruto.

"What? The old man…he didn't…" Naruto asked, his voice breaking as he assumed the worst.

Haku immediately caught on to what he had assumed and cursed herself for her stupidity.

"No, it's just that…we'll he tried to use a jutsu, but it backfired somehow. I don't know the specifics, but he was fighting Orochimaru of the sannin and now he can't use his arms for anything." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, he still needed to talk with the old man; it looked like he still had that opportunity at least.

"Naruto, get some rest. You need to recover." Haku encourage.

"What about you?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be here when you wake up." Haku reassured.

"That wasn't what…" Naruto started, but was cut off midsentence.

"I know what you meant and my answer remains the same; I'll be here when you wake in the morning." Naruto laid back onto his bed at her urging, not really realising just how tired he was till he went to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

***********************************************************************************************************

Gaara was sleeping once again, it had become his favourite pass time now that he was sure that the Shukaku wasn't going to try and take control in his moment of weakness. The first time he had gone to sleep, he had strange visions; they were all so...random. None of them seemed to make sense, so he asked Temari and Kankuro about the experience. Apparently these strange visions were called dreams and everybody experienced them, just some people didn't remember them.

Tonight's dream was a little different, he was walking what appeared to be a long corridor, there were no lights visible, yet there was an eerie blue light that seemed to illuminate the walls and floor before him. More disturbingly, there were smears all over the walls, it was hard to tell, but Gaara was under the distinct impression that those smears would be red under normal light.

Coming to the end of the corridor Gaara came to what appeared to be a large open area, the roof raising to one hundred metres or so in the air. In the dull light of the room Gaara could make out a large hulking form, he was immediately on guard.

"Gaara; come closer." The raspy voice requested.

Not sure what compelled him to comply, Gaara's legs moved of their own accord, taking him closer to the voice. Upon closer inspection Gaara's eyes widened in horror as he recognised the massive form of what could only be the Shukaku. He made to move away, only to be called back.

"Wait, I mean you no harm. I just want to talk with you." The voiced rasped again. Gaara had no idea why he was stopping and listening to the demon, yet he complied none-the-less.

"Thank you. I wanted you to see me in this form, so you could understand my next actions. Remain calm, I'm just going to change into something more comfortable for the both of us." The demon said as she started to resize and reform, shrinking considerably while taking on a more human appearance. Gaara watched in fascination as he watched the demon that had ruined his life reform into what appeared to be a teenage girl. The girl had sandy coloured hair; she was wearing a tan coloured kimono with **DESIGN** running down the side of the kimono.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked.

"My name is TomoSendatsu, though you probably know me better by my title of Ichibi no Shukaku." The girl greeted with a bow.

"You're the Shukaku?" Gaara asked in disbelief.

"Yes though I would prefer you call me Tomo. Before we get any further, I would like to say something." The girl dropped to her knees and touched her head to the floor. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry." The girl cried over and over, tears leaking from her eyes.

"Enough." Gaara barked, he wasn't one for great shows of emotion. "Tell me...tell me your story. I want to understand, how a girl like you could also be the blood crazy demon that has inhabited me for so long."

Her eyes widened, he was asking to hear her side of the story? To explain her actions? It was more than she deserved, or at least she thought so as well.

"Many years ago...in the times of the great shinobi wars, the Bijuu roamed free. Each of us associates with a given country, so we helped that country during the war times. The Bijuu were seen as natural disasters, so it was not surprising that each country wanted exclusive control of all nine." The girl paused, giving herself time to reorient before continuing.

"Well, each country developed its own methods of trying to capture us. Some used seals, while others were foolish enough to think that they could overpower us with sheer force of numbers. The only two true methods came from Konoha. One was a man who had the ability now called Mokuton. Another had had tried to use a strange power of his eyes to control us, now called the Sharingan. Mokuton was a complete technique, it could control us easily and completely; the Sharingan was not complete, when that man tried to control me, something changed, it awakened a horrible bloodlust." She checked to see if she still had Gaara's attention, to her surprise she did.

"The bloodlust; it drove me to insanity. I stopped protecting the people I was meant to defend, I started attacking them. Reluctant to give up my power in case another village found away to use me, your village sealed me within an ancestral ceremonial teapot. With time they discovered that I could be sealed within humans, and they hoped that the humans that became my jinchuuriki could control me. True enough they could, but the one I was sealed in lead a cursed life, never to know friendship, never to know love and scorned by the rest of his village." She took a moment to compose herself as she began to hurt knowing how much pain she had caused to so many people over the years.

"Then I was sealed within you. Just recently, my bloodlust was abated and my sanity returned. It was thanks to that song that that blond haired boy sang," Rei finished

"Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara mused, before continuing. "So one with the Sharingan was the cause of all this? That could only have been an Uchiha." Gaara said, taking a very educated guess.

"Yes, I will never forget him as long as I live. Madara Uchiha, if he were still alive today, I would seek retribution for what he made me." Tomo said heatedly.

Gaara nodded in understanding, not entirely sure what to say.

"May I ask a few questions?" Gaara sought permission; perhaps the girl didn't feel like revealing any more than she already had. She surprised him by nodding and granting permission.

"This place...what is it." Gaara asked his first question.

"It's the plain of your mind...your mindscape if you will." Tomoanswered simply.

"Secondly, what were those smears of the walls as I walked in?" Gaara asked, though not entirely sure he would like the answer.

"They are the signs of one with a bloody conscience." She replied somewhat depressed. Within the last few days, Gaara had realised exactly what it was he had been doing for the last few years, starting with his Uncle Yashamru and continuing for many years after that. He had blood on his hands, something that he would never be able to deny.

"I will help you bear this." Tomosaid determinedly. "After all it is my fault." She said with regret in her voice.

"Also, how do I get back here?" Gaara asked. Her eyes widened, realising that he may actually come to visit if he was asking for that, though it was more than she should hope for and definitely more than she thought she deserved.

"Simply meditate, you can still talk with me outside of here, but to see me face to face you will have to meditate, or I will pull your consciousness in when you're sleeping if I need to speak directly to you."

Gaara nodded and turned around; heading back down the corridor that he had come through calling out to Tomoover his shoulder as he left.

"Until we meet again then, Tomo-san**.**" He said as his body disappeared into the darkness.

***********************************************************************************************************

"So you're finally awake; that's good to see." Kakashi greeted Naruto, actually getting a response for the first time in quite a number of days.

"I'm awake for three hours and sick of hospital already. At least Haku-chan's been keeping me company." Naruto said, sending an appreciative look at Haku who simply smiled in return.

"Oh...so it's Haku-_chan_ now, is it?" Kakashi ribbed, his little brother burning at what Kakashi might be implying.

"I...that is...we err..." Naruto stuttered.

"Relax; don't go blowing a blood vessel and then keeping yourself here any longer than necessary." Kakashi waved off the attempted self defences.

"I do need to speak with you about what happened; more than just a retelling of what happened might be necessary." Naruto nodded.

Naruto recounted the tale first, starting with when they left the stadium, Temari and Kankuro's interference and the start of and culmination to his fight with Gaara; then he went into more depth explaining how he managed to stop a homicidal demon.

"It's one of the phoenix clan's abilities. It's called galdr. My voice becomes layered with chakra as I sing. I talked to one of my summons about it last night. She said that the effects of galdr can change with the song as well as who is singing it." Naruto paused for breath before continuing.

"Shizuka-sama said that the song I had sung was called the Galdr of Rebirth. It returns a twisted mind and soul to its original state. That was why the demon was calmed within Gaara. It's also why Sasuke's curse seal as well as mine was eradicated." Naruto finished.

"So you know about that do you?" Kakashi asked surprised that his brother had such information despite having only woken a few hours ago.

"Haku-chan told me." Naruto said simply, Kakashi nodded before firing his last question.

"I hate to ask this, but if requested, do you think that you could reproduce it, the galdr that is?" Kakashi didn't bother beating around the bush.

"Yeah...I found a way to reduce my recovery time after. Why?" Naruto confirmed.

"Anko Mitarashi is rather eager to have her own mark removed; this is the first complete removal we've ever seen." Kakashi said quietly, Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Well for now rest, I've got things to see to. We'll all be waiting on the outside for you when you get released." Kakashi said as he walked out of the room.

Naruto watched him leave then turned to Haku.

"There are a few people that I need to visit." He said before getting up and moving for the door.

"Naruto…wait…" but her calls fell on deaf ears deciding to follow after him.

His first call of business was to visit Sasuke and Sakura. When he'd gotten to the room, it was only Sakura; Sasuke had apparently been released earlier that morning.

He made small talk with Sakura, keeping her company for a good hour or so before he had to excuse himself. There was one person that he really needed to talk to; the Hokage.

He made his way down to the front hall, not even considering that there were a whole stack of forms to be filled out if he was discharged. Just as he walked past the front desk a nurse grabbed him by the back of his collar and started dragging him away from the front entrance.

"You haven't been discharged yet, so there is no way you are leaving this hospital." The nurse said as she continued dragging.

"Discharged? Do I look like a sick person to you?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, rules are rules. I can't just let you wander outta here. If I just let you wander out of here and I knew you weren't supposed to, then it'd be my head on the chopping block." She growled back, trying to make at least one ninja realise the amount of trouble they all caused when they just went wandering like that.

"Nurse Haruka," a voice called from the other end of the corridor "it's fine, he can go. You really like causing us trouble don't you?" It was Megumi, Naruto's doctor and Haku's sensei.

"It's not as though I try." Naruto huffed, Haku giggling at his antics.

"Just go, before I declare you clinically insane." Megumi groaned.

"You couldn't." Naruto tested, horrified.

"You're a ninja, that's my case in the bag already." She teased. "Now go." She said as she ushered him to the front entrance.

Naruto turned and said a quick 'thanks' before heading off in the direction of the Hokage tower.

***********************************************************************************************************

If the situation wasn't so dire Sarutobi would have been laughing.

Because his arms were destroyed by the effect of the s_hiki fuin_ he couldn't do the paperwork himself, so he had to cal in his two old teammates Homura and Koharu to fill out the documents under his watch.

This was the scene that Naruto greeted with when he burst into the Kage's office.

"Hokage-sama." Naruto greeted. It was the same way that Naruto had greeted the Hokage when he was refusing to talk to him, but the warmth present this time was a great relief for the ageing Hokage.

"Naruto-kun, what a pleasant surprise." Sarutobi returned the greeting before turning to his two advisors. "Homura, Koharu**, **I think that now is as good a time as any for a break. Why don't you grab a coffee while I talk with Naruto here?" Catching the Hokage's drift, the other two left the office for a short while to pursue other endeavours.

"So Naruto-kun, I'm glad that you're out of the hospital, but what brings you here today." The Hokage enquired good naturedly.

"Well, I came...to tell you that I've forgiven you for keeping information from me. You had your reasons, I will say now that I don't agree with them, so I won't apologise, but I can at least understand you hand both my concerns and your villagers at heart."

"Thank you for understanding, Naruto." The Kage replied as he nodded sombrely.

"Also, I heard that you lost the use of your arms, and that you're looking for a new Kage. That's not true? Is it?" The blond asked, though seeing the heavy bandaging on Sarutobi's arms was almost convinced of the fact.

The Kage sighed heavily before responding.

"You heard correctly, I can't use my arms and I'm looking for a new Kage. I'm surprised though, I thought I would be dead after using my jutsu." The Hokage informed.

"Can I ask what jutsu you used?" Naruto asked, wondering what jutsu would have the power to kill both target and user almost without fail.

"The same that was used to seal Rei-san, _shiki fuin."_ The Hokage replied quietly.

Naruto thought about that for a while, thinking about his own father's sacrifice to seal a rampaging Rei within him; then he remembered Hiko-sensei's words.

'_Shinigami-sama is a god that believes in universality.' _Naruto quoted.

"What?" Sarutobi looked confused.

"It was something that Hiko-sensei had said. Perhaps the Shinigami didn't take you entire soul as he didn't get the chance to take all of Orochimaru's soul."

"I also had to seal both my sensei's soul's Naruto-kun, at the very least then he should have taken my soul for that."

"What?" Naruto said in disbelief. Sarutobi had to explain the whole fight to him; by the end of it Naruto was given more food for thought.

'_Then perhaps it was because Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama's souls were not completely summoned and the soul in the bunshin was sufficient 'payment'.' Rei reasoned in his head._

"I'm going to bring Rei-chan out, she has something to add." Naruto announced

'_Wait a...'_ Rei started in his head

"...minute." And finished in the real world. Sarutobi looked at Rei expectantly, so she just sighed and relayed what she had just mentioned to Naruto.

"It's unusual, even if Shinigami did believe in equality, then it still should have been a soul for soul." Sarutobi countered.

"Not quite, maybe it was that Orochimaru summoned only their battle related memories. Even then he couldn't only get that as some of those memories would involve training, training that involved you and that is why they recognised you. As a result your _kage bunshin_, which contains a piece of your own soul, was enough of an…exchange," Rei said.

"You truly are very knowledgeable in this area." Sarutobi praised.

"I lived on the high plane of heaven for quite some time. I know a fair bit about this world as well as that one." Rei explained.

"So who are you considering for Hokage? Anyone I know?" Naruto asked.

"I was considering Jiraiya for a time, but I don't think he's quite suitable for the position."

"Not suitable? The first thing he'd do is make Anko-sensei's get up the standard kunoichi uniform _minus _the trench coat." Naruto said with disdain about his occasional sensei. Sarutobi chuckled while Rei simply smiled and shook her head.

"So if not Jiraiya then...?" Naruto persisted.

"I'm looking for my other student, Tsunade." Looking at Naruto with genuine interest, Sarutobi had an interesting thought.

"Actually Naruto, I think I may have a mission for you if you're up for it?" Sarutobi offered, Naruto perking up instantly, showing his interest.

"Jiraiya leave's in a few days to find Tsunade, I would like you to go with him, consider it a personal favour to me. This will be considered an S rank mission both for potential danger as well as importance to the village." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

"What's the main danger? We're just looking for someone." Naruto asked.

"Tsunade can be rather temperamental. That paired with either her hate of perverts or her love of sake aren't good combinations. Oh...and make sure she doesn't just assume you're a pervert by association with Jiraiya." Sarutobi warned, Naruto paled slightly.

"Now normally an S rank is a mission sworn to secrecy, but this is a slightly different situation. You go tell who you need to and I will tell Jiraiya. Be ready to leave tomorrow at midday." Sarutobi said as he finalised his idea.

The door to the office creaked open; Rei quickly dispelled herself, just as Homura and Koharuentered the room.

"Well, Naruto, it was good speaking with you. I'll see you later." Sarutobi said as he ushered Naruto out the door.

***********************************************************************************************************

Naruto's first call of order was to find Kakashi and tell him what was going on. He sent out shadow clones in every direction to find his brother and sensei. A clone dispelled a few minutes later, his jounin sensei, most of the rookie twelve and a hoard of older genin were working on repairing the giant hole in the wall that summon snake had put there in the invasion.

Naruto made it to the area without delay and quickly found his older brother.

"ANIKI!" He bellowed across the open area, trying to catch his brother's attention as he was moving away from Naruto.

"Naruto? You were discharged from the hospital already? Didn't they need to keep you?" Kakashi was surprised; the boy has only woken up yesterday.

"Nah! I'm fine, besides I needed to let you know I'm going on a mission tomorrow." Naruto told the silver haired jounin, who's only response was to cock an eyebrow.

"It's an S rank; we're goi…mph mph…MMMPPPHHH!" Naruto was cut off mid sentence as Kakashi clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Surely Hokage-sama mentioned that S ranks are sworn to secrecy?" Kakashi said exasperated as he let go of Naruto's mouth.

"He did, he also said that this was a different situation and that it was fine to tell." Naruto retorted, somewhat peeved.

"Oh…err…right sorry then. Please continue." Kakashi said looking slightly sheepish.

"We're going to find Tsunade of the sannin and bring her back to be the Hokage." Kakashi's visible eye widened at the statement, though he betrayed nothing other than surprise, it was still impossible what he was really thinking behind that mask.

Nearby Tenten had heard the mission and she had stars in her eyes. Her idol was coming to Konoha. She was overjoyed at the idea that of the role model to all kunoichi was going to grace their presence once again.

"Well, if that's the case, you'd better prepare for a long term mission. Perhaps a month or two." Kakashi replied.

"It'll take that long?" A surprised Naruto asked.

"Tsunade moves around a lot, and believe me if she doesn't want to be found, she won't be. Jiraiya should be able to handle it; he is a spy master after all." Kakashi explained.

"Well, I'm going to get packing, if I have time I'll meet you guys back here." Naruto said before rushing off.

***********************************************************************************************************

The next day Naruto and Jiraiya were at the main gates ready to leave, a few of their friends seeing them off. They had said their final goodbyes before they headed off to find Tsunade.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun. Stay safe." Haku said quietly, wishing her favourite blond well.

"Make sure you bring back Tsunade-sama, you hear me, Naruto?" Tenten called to their retreating forms.

'Make sure you bring both of them back, Naruto.' Kakashi thought to himself as he felt a dull ache inside his chest and a longing for times of old.

Soon the pair had disappeared from sight and those left behind in Konoha had no choice but to get back to work.

***********************************************************************************************************

**Chapter End**

Well…hands up those who seriously expected me to update within a week of my last? Gotta say, I'm kinda surprised as well. Don't expect this for too long. The uni semester isn't really in full swing so I'm trying to get as much done now before I have to stop writing all for a while.

On another note I have already started the next chapter. I think this length is quite reasonable.

**Translation**

Tomo Sendatsu – Companion Guiding (or as the name would be arranged in Japanese…Guiding companion)


	14. Chapter 14

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 13**

Thanks to those that reviewed. To be perfectly honest, every time I get one I freak that it's going to be a flame telling me that I'm no longer taking the story in a direction that you like.

In any case this is probably one of the last chapter's I'll get out until mid-semester break, until then I have a stack of work that needs doing.

Well…on with the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

***********************************************************************************************************

Naruto and Jiraiya had been on the road for a day now; they were currently _en route_ to Tanzuku Town and were currently in a conversation about the person they were looking for.

"So this teammate of yours, Tsunade, is she really that good a medic?" Naruto asked, slightly sceptical.

"Gaki, she's the best. Chiyo-baasama of Suna reserves only her most vicious of insult for Tsunade in recognition of her superiority in medical jutsu." Jiraiya bragged about his teammate. "Why do you ask?" he enquired as he looked over Naruto.

"Oh…no reason" Naruto said, though unconvincingly as he thought about how he had told Sakura before they left.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Sakura, I just wanted to let you know I'm going on a mission for a month or two." Naruto said to a bedbound Sakura._

"_That long? What's the mission?" Sakura was surprised at the time given, even their mission with Tazuna hadn't taken that long._

"_Jiraiya and I are going to find Tsunade and bring her back to be the Godaime Hokage." Naruto pronounced._

"_You're going to find Tsunade-sama?" Sakura exclaimed in awe._

"_Everybody has that reaction. Who is she, everybody knows Ero-sennin, but they don't give him anywhere near as much respect, even if they are both sannin." Naruto asked, not sure what all the big fuss was about._

"_She's related to both of the first Hokages for a start, that alone makes her the closest thing we have to a princess, but to top it all off she's considered by many as the world's leading medic." Sakura explained, drawing upon her academy knowledge._

"_She's a top notch medic? Does that mean that she might be able to help you?" He asked hopefully._

"…_Maybe." Sakura said hesitantly. She knew the odds were stacked well against her. "Well if anyone could do it, then it'd have to be her." Sakura said somewhat more cheerfully, though not at her usual intensity._

"_Then it's settled, I'm going to bring Tsunade back so we can get you back with the rest of us, right where you belong." This time she couldn't help but smile an actual smile, his intensity, his love of life, it was infectious, it was enough to give her something to hope for._

"_Well, I'd better get going; I'll see you when I get back." Naruto said as he left the room._

_Upon rounding a corner he bumped into Yugito Nii, the jounin from Kumo._

"_Yugito-nee! You're still here? I thought you would have gone back to Kumogakure already." Naruto greeted, though happy and surprised to see the blond woman._

"_Raikage-sama and Hisa have already returned with Dai's body. I'm still here because Rin is too weak to be moved after being poisoned by your teammate. That was some powerful poison that she managed to use. The medic in charge said it's not working the way it's supposed to and attacking the nerves used to move the muscles for breathing." Yugito explained._

"_I'm sorry about both your students." Naruto said, truly meaning what he said._

"_It's part of ninja life, a sad part, but a part none-the-less. Not to mention what happened to your teammate." Yugito said, acknowledging the harsh reality of ninja life._

"_Well we're gonna bring Tsunade back. So Sakura can get healed, we can probably get her to look at Rin as well." Naruto told her._

"_Well, good luck with that, no doubt you have preparations to make, so I'll leave you be." She said before waving once then moving on._

_FLASHBACK END_

"Right, we're out far enough. I want you to show me how far you've gotten with _yomi numa._" Jiraiya announced as they had reached an arbitrary point in their journey.

"What why?" Naruto asked, not sure where his sensei was going with this.

"Just do it, I'll explain in a sec." Jiraiya demanded. Naruto growled but used the jutsu anyway, Jiraiya nodded when he had.

"Good, it actually looks like a swamp and not a dirty swimming pool." He said, Naruto just sent him a dirty look. Jiraiya ignored the stare and continued talking.

"We'll how would you like to learn a new jutsu, and not just any jutsu, one created by the Yondaime." Jiraiya offered, Naruto's eyed glimmered in excitement.

"It's called the rasengan; it's an A rank jutsu." Jiraiya said as he demonstrated. He walked to a tree and formed a ball of chakra in his hand, he then pressed the ball against the tree trunk and Naruto watched as the ball simply grinded away the trunk as though it wasn't there.

"That's…incredible." Naruto said, astounded.

"This jutsu took the Yondaime three years to develop, I managed to do it after three months when he taught me, so don't go expecting to complete it anytime soon." Jiraiya told Naruto, noting that the fierce determination hadn't disappeared at all.

"Well seeing as you're eager let's get started." Jiraiya said throwing a water-filled balloon to Naruto. The blond caught it and awaited further instruction.

"The first step is rotation. You need to be able to burst that ball by rotating the water within it." Jiraiya said, demonstrating with his own balloon. "Once you complete that step, I'll show you the next step."

Jiraiya had barely turned around and walked three steps when he heard a 'pop' as well as a splash of water.

"I said pop it with your chakra, baka, not your hands." Jiraiya said to Naruto, resisting the urge to face palm.

"I did." Naruto deadpanned. Sceptical Jiraiya threw him a second balloon. Sure enough, there was some dimpling and rippling on the surface of the balloon before it popped.

"How the hell did you get that so fast?" Jiraiya asked astounded.

"Well I saw what you did. If you had moved your chakra in only one direction then it would have just flattened out, but it didn't. Added to that you gave me some training before the chuunin exams at using my chakra in different areas at different levels. That was a similar process." Naruto explained with a giant grin on his face; maybe this jutsu wasn't so hard after all.

This time Jiraiya gave him a second ball and explained that he needed to burst this one. He said that it would be a lot harder than the first, both due to the lack of water in the ball as well as the tougher rubber exterior of the ball.

True to his word, this part was harder than the first, but still not hard enough to dampen Naruto's spirits. Naruto practised as they walked to their destination, trying to get the balloon to burst. He experience minor success in getting the rubber ball to puncture; he had shown Jiraiya, but the man took another ball and show the boy how it was to be done, blowing the ball up in one hit.

The whole while they were travelling Naruto had summoned Rei to the real world where she could enjoy the fresh air.

The three had grown accustomed to sleeping in the outdoors, but on the third day of their journey what they happened across a rest house the three took their time and stopped in for the evening.

"You know, you really should give it a break. You might just need to rest on it for a bit and then it might come to you." Rei advised knowledgeably.

Naruto was walking back inside; the floor boards were rather rickety as the old couple that owned the inn had allowed the place to fall into a state of disrepair. The wooden stairs groaned, straining under Naruto's weight as he made to move inside. Just as Naruto got to the second stair from the top the step snapped under his foot.

"WHAA!" He cried out, his foot sinking through the floor.

"And you're supposed to be a ninja?" Rei taunted.

"So I just put on a little bit more weight, it's probably all muscle." Naruto countered as he pulled his foot free.

"It's probably because the floor is almost nonexistent and you had all your weight down on one point." Rei responded more reasonably this time.

"Yeah...all my force was..." Naruto paused, deep in thought.

"Naruto?" Rei asked, giving him a funny look.

"...all my force...on one point. THAT'S IT!" The blonde exclaimed, jumping back down the stairs his rubber ball in hand.

Standing back where he was a short while ago when he was training, Naruto started pumping chakra into the ball. Just when it looked as though he had failed once again the ball suddenly exploded without any warning. Unlike before where the balloon changed shape, the ball just exploded, sending bits of rubber everywhere.

"Rei-chan, you're a genius." Naruto called to Rei, who was watching interestedly.

For her part, she had no idea what he was on about, but she was glad if she had said something that tipped him off and got him one step closer to completing the rasengan.

"All I was doing before was just forcing as much chakra as I could into the ball. You reminded me that when two things had the same weight but one is applied over a larger area, then the one with the smaller base will put more pressure on the ground." The boy stopped to take a breath.

"That's great, but if you focus your chakra, then shouldn't it _not_ burst the ball?" Rei argued. While what he did worked, it didn't seem to work in her head.

"I couldn't keep control of the chakra; my control isn't good enough yet. When my control faded, the chakra expanded out and blew the ball." Naruto said somewhat ruefully. "In any case, wait here. I'm going to show Ero-sennin. He can show me the next part and then I can start working on that while we move tomorrow."

Naruto left and returned, looking somewhat disgruntled.

"Well, what's the last part?" Rei asked.

"He said it was the hardest part of the whole thing. You remember how I said that I lost control of the chakra and let it expand?"

Rei smiled now knowing what the last part was.

"You have to maintain the spherical shape by controlling your chakra, don't you?" She asked, though she didn't really need confirmation.

Naruto just nodded, looking like he had been force fed something yucky and vile.

"Well, do what you said. Work on it tomorrow. You have a full day of travel left and we're not far from Tanzuku Town. You may as well get some rest now and try it tomorrow when you're ready." She advised.

Naruto nodded, following advice and turning in for the night, hearing a pop as he got ready for bed, signifying that Rei had either dismissed herself or the bunshin had finally run out of chakra.

***********************************************************************************************************

The three got moving at first light, making the rest of the trek towards Tanzuku Town where Tsunade was supposed to be. They could have just as easily left a fair bit later and moved at a higher speed to get there at the same time, but the final stage of the rasengan was taking all of Naruto's concentration. Periodically Rei and Jiraiya would hear a loud 'pop' behind them, followed by a quick curse word.

Naruto for his part was growing frustrated, unlike the second part of the rasengan, he knew exactly what he had to do; the trouble came with actually doing it. It took some insane chakra control to be able to rotate chakra, compress it enough to have some real power, then to finally hold it to complete the attack. In all this Naruto realised one thing, Jiraiya and his father had to be absolute legends to be able to form the thing one handed in the middle of a battle with little more than a thought.

***********************************************************************************************************

In Tanzuku town a woman with **Pants colour** and a green jacket with the kanji for 'gamble' emblazoned was staring blankly at the pachinko machine that was now flashing brilliantly indicating that she had just won the jackpot. Her travelling companion just looked on in horror; the only time that her travelling partner and mentor received good luck of any sort was right before something very bad happened. The woman quickly collected her winnings and left, fearing that any further good luck would be just like stretching a rubber band, the more stretched, the more it would hurt when it snapped back to normal and her bad luck returned.

However, her superstitious thinking could do little to prevent the series of event that would ultimately change her life.

From a fair distance away Orochimaru and his follower Kabuto Yakushi were watching Tsunade and her apprentice Shizune leave the gambling parlour.

"Soon, we will approach her. I will offer her what she most desires and then she will return to me what I have lost." Then I will make all of Konoha pay for the pain and humiliation I have endured." Orochimaru crooned, though he was not really taking to anyone in particular. Kabuto remained silent, a trait valued by the Snake Sannin and anyone who wanted to keep their lives in his presence.

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Naruto and Jiraiya had entered Tanzuku town, Rei had returned to the seal. It would not have been wise to confront Tsunade with her resent. If The Slug Princess asked who she would, it would be downright suspicious if they said that she was a civilian as she would have no business being there, Rei didn't have any combat skills in this form and telling Tsunade that they were travelling with the humanoid avatar of the Kyuubi no Yoko was not an option...at least not right away.

Naruto had not made any real progress with the rasengan. He could hold the shape for slightly longer, but the result was still the same; the ball exploding at the end of the jutsu.

It was now late at night and the two had searched all over town for the woman. Naruto had suggested that they split up to cover more ground, but the idea was rejected by Jiraiya; Naruto didn't need to know yet, but Akatsuki, a group S ranked criminals trying to gain the Bijuu for their own purposes, were becoming increasingly more active. He simply stated that Naruto had no idea what she looked like and that she used a very high level genjutsu the hide her age.

Recognising his own weakness in genjutsu, Naruto dropped the argument without any fuss.

Both males had grown tired of searching for a day, so Jiraiya suggested that they stop in by the local restaurant to get something to eat and drink before finding a place to stay for the night and then renewing their search in the morning.

"How do you know that she's even still here?" Naruto asked, not sure what made Jiraiya so certain.

"You saw what was left of that castle right? I'll bet my entire bank account that was...TSUNADE!?" Jiraiya was in the middle of answering when he cut himself off as he saw his teammate across the other side of the restaurant. He called out to her over the rabble, her head perking up and looking around to see who was calling her.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, surprised to see two of her teammates in one day.

"Looking for you actually." Jiraiya answered, moving his way across the room, Naruto following in his wake.

"Great, you too." Tsunade said sourly.

Jiraiya sat down at the table, joining Tsunade apprentice Shizune. Shizune had short black hair, falling down to just above her shoulders; she wore a black yakuta and was hugging a pig to her body.

"So who's the brat?" Tsunade asked, she already had her suspicions though.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said, with a small incline of his head, a bow was impossible as he was seated.

"Hey, how come you're bowing to her? You never show me any respect." Jiraiya groused.

"That's because you never show women any respect _Ero_-sennin. You're a sage o the ninja arts, so I treat you as such, you're also a self proclaimed _super _pervert." Naruto said, shitting his sensei down.

"I like this kid already" Tsunade said with a smirk about her face. "So why exactly are you here?" Tsunade asked, completely business again.

"I'll cut to the chase, you heard about the sand and sound invasion of Konoha? And I assume you heard about sensei?" Jiraiya started.

"Of course, that snake told me himself." Tsunade replied complacently.

"Well then you should know that Sarutobi-sensei is no longer fit to be Hokage, in short the council wants you as the fifth." Jiraiya said.

"Impossible, I refuse." Tsunade said without a second's hesitation.

"Funny, I remember you saying the exact same thing to me all those years ago when I asked you out." Jiraiya mused.

"You don't want to be Kage? Why not?" Naruto asked, genuinely shocked that anyone would turn down such an honourable appointment.

"Boy, I like to gamble, but taking that position...it's a fool's bet. You'd have to be an idiot to want to be kage. All of them died, they died young." Tsunade growled at Naruto.

"You're related to two of them. How can you say that?" Naruto growled back, remembering some of the background info Jiraiya had given him on the female Sannin.

"Lost many loved ones to that position. I lost my grandfather, my grand uncle, my little brother and the love of my life. All were fantastic ninja; all were beaten by the curse of the title _kage_." She replied, snarling at the end. "I may be many things but stupid enough to wager my life for that position isn't one of them."

"So that's it you're an old woman, trying to look young, stuck in the past and too afraid to move on." Naruto burst out, returning the glare that she was sending him.

"That's it brat, outside." Tsunade yelled, not giving Naruto time to move, simply picking him up and throwing him out on the street before following after.

Jiraiya and Shizune were quick to follow.

"Tsunade-sama, he's just a kid…" Shizune began.

"He's a ninja first and he needs to learn that shooting his mouth off like that is gonna get him killed." Tsunade said to her apprentice before turning to Naruto.

"One finger." She said holding up her right index finger. "One finger is all I'll need to beat you." She finished as she stood ready.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto called back.

The boy ran in at top speed, while it was fast for either a genin or a chuunin, it was still pitifully slow in the eyes of Tsunade. Just as the blonde boy drew closer to his opponent, Tsunade struck the ground with her finger causing a fissure almost 20 meters long to appear, Naruto just managed to dodge before contemplating his options.

He held out his hand in front of him and started collecting chakra

"Rotation…Power…Hold it all together and…" he whispered to himself, "GO! RASENGAN!" He called out for everybody to hear. Tsunade's eyes widen as she was momentarily caught off guard as he used one of the Yondaime's legendary jutsus.

She snapped out of her daze a little too late and didn't leave enough time to dodge, she had to use her hold hand to redirect the attack to the ground, there it ground in for 2 inches before Naruto lost control of the chakra and the ball exploded, leaving a rather sizeable crater.

"Jiraiya, were you really irresponsible enough to teach him such a jutsu." Tsunade growled at Jiraiya, astounded by his stupidity.

"I'm his sensei so what I teach him is up to me." Jiraiya replied evenly.

"It was foolish to teach him a jutsu that he can never master. Only you and the Yondaime are capable." She retorted fiercely.

"What, I'll bet you anything that I can master it." An outraged Naruto yelled at her.

"Why do you try so hard kid?" Tsunade asked, getting genuinely irritated by the boy.

"Why? Because I have people I want to protect, I want to be recognised as Naruto Uzumaki by the people of Konohagakure no Sato, because I _will_ be the Hokage one day." Naruto said; his eyes full of determination. It was then that Tsunade saw the spirits of both her little brother and her lost lover within Naruto, their dream still alive within him.

"Then let's have a bet. If you can master that jutsu in a week, I'll give you this necklace." Tsunade said revealing a necklace with a small green gem attached.

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune gasped

"Stay out of this Shizune." Tsunade ordered.

"Not interested." Naruto declared.

"Naruto, that necklace is worth three goldmines plus the mountains that they rest under." Jiraiya informed.

"Still not interested." Naruto restated. "Even if you're not interested in being kage, Ero-sennin tells be that you're the best  
medic-nin around. I want you to come back to Konoha to help two friends of mine. If you still wanna throw in the necklace then that's your call, but I've made my request." Naruto said, stating his conditions.

"That's a pretty big ask. If that's the case then you have to put something equally important on the line. If I win then you have to give up that ridiculous dream of being a kage." Tsunade said with a smirk.

"Tsunade, that way out of…" Jiraiya started, only to be cut off by Naruto.

"Deal!" Naruto accepted.

Everyone looked at Naruto stunned; they couldn't believe he had put everything on the line for his friends. He didn't even wait another moment before he went off, presumably to train.

***********************************************************************************************************

The two sannin retreated back into the hotel; Jiraiya had asked Shizune to give them some privacy while he talked to Tsunade.

"So what is it?" Tsunade snapped.

"Never insult the previous kages again, least of all not in his presence." Jiraiya said, his voice cold, it was the voice Jiraiya used right before a very serious battle. Tsunade was caught off guard for the second time that night; never in her lifetime did she expect to that voice directed at her.

"What?" she managed to squeeze out softly.

"That boy has had a hard life, he had only had a few role models, admittedly I'm to blame for not being there for him earlier, but that's beside the point."

"So you don't want me bad mouthing his idols? Is that it?" Tsunade summarised, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Not simply his idols, his father." Jiraiya said tersely.

Tsunade looked at him, before shaking her head.

"Relax, it's not as though he actually knows…" She started, brushing of Jiraiya's concerns.

"You're wrong. He does know. I'm surprised that he stopped attacking when he did." Jiraiya corrected.

Tsunade looked contemplative.

"I'm leaving, you can think about that. And be prepared to pack your bags and head to Konoha within a week. He's determined. You've given him two reasons not to fail." Jiraiya said as he got up and walked out of the restaurant leaving Tsunade to her own thoughts.

***********************************************************************************************************

When Shizune left she decided to head in the direction that Naruto had raced off in, fully expecting to find him working on the rasengan. When she happened across the boy he was in an open field, the trees all looked rather worse for wear and she could Naruto preparing another rasengan to shove into yet another innocent tree. Once again the ball was grinding into the tree before Naruto lost control and it exploded, causing the tree to splinter.

"Naruto-san." Shizune called softly.

"Oh...you're Tsunade's apprentice right? We never got formally introduced. My name is Naruto." Naruto said, taking a break from his training and bowing with his introduction.

"My name is Shizune." The woman replied, replicating the bow. "You know, you're a paradox." Shizune said thoughtfully.

"How so." Naruto asked, not understanding where she was coming from.

"You travel with the world's greatest pervert, yet you demand he respects women. You act rashly, yet you are also rather polite when the time calls for it." Shizune explain with laughter in her eyes.

"Well you can thank my Aniki for my manners when you come back to Konoha." Naruto said with a grin.

"You have an elder brother? I was under the impression that you were an only child." Shizune replied.

"Why would you think that?" Naruto asked, not sure what had tipped her off.

"Naruto, there isn't a single person from Konoha above a certain age that doesn't know who you are." Shizune replied.

"Then you know about..." Naruto started, trailing of at the end in case they weren't talking the same thing, though his mind could not possibly come up with an alternative.

"Yes, I know about the Kyuubi. And before you ask, I don't consider you a demon because of it."

Naruto had nothing to say, he was moved; very few people had ever accepted him knowing about his tenant. It was a shock to have someone just meet him and still accept him.

"Who is you brother?" She asked.

"I was adopted by Kakashi Hatake." Naruto announced.

"Kakashi?" Shizune said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Shizune-san?"Naruto asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

"I came here to speak to you about the bet you have with Tsunade." Shizune said, shaking herself from old memories.

"If you're here to get me to back out then it's not happening." Naruto said stubbornly.

"I'm not here for that reason. I'm here to fill you in about her past with that necklace." Shizune said. Naruto simply sat on the floor and gave her his full attention.

"You heard the monetary worth of the necklace but it holds more value to Tsunade." Shizune started. Only to be interrupted by Naruto.

"Monetary?" He said, requesting an explanation.

"Basically how much someone would pay for it, or how much you could ask for if you were to sell it. In any case, it was a gift from her great grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage. She treasured it with all her heart. Tsunade had a little brother, Nawaki."

"_Had_?" Naruto emphasised, Shizune nodded understanding his implication.

"Nawaki had the same dream as you; funnily enough he even looked a little like you. When he declared his goal to Tsunade, she gave it to him in recognition of it; it was after all a Hokage's necklace. The very next day, Nawaki went out on a mission and was brutally butchered through the course of the war by Iwa nin." She said, trying to keep her voice even as she remembered the pain her sensei felt, even years after the event.

"Tsunade felt horrible, but that isn't the end of it. She had a lover, my own uncle. He also confessed his desire to be Hokage. Once more she gave that necklace to a loved one, a week later the both of them went out on a mission. Dan was mortally wounded, Tsunade tried to do everything that she could, but it was useless. He had lost too much blood and the damage was too great. My uncle died with Tsunade's hands buried within him doing everything to keep him alive." She couldn't help it, this time her voice did break; she had tears running down her face.

When she looked up Naruto was no longer sitting down. He was right in front of her; without a second thought he reached around her and gave her a hug, she closed her eyes and just soaked in his warmth, it was the kind of hug a brother gave his older sister.

When she had calmed down he let go.

"Sorry." Naruto said looking guilty.

"No, thank you. I needed that." She replied before steeling herself to continue.

"She has offered you the necklace once again. She has chosen to believe once again. Please, I'm begging you, don't falter. Win this bet; give her something to believe in." Shizune said, bowing low again.

"I won't fail and I won't die before I become kage." Naruto vowed, his eyes ablaze with determination.

He moved away from her to resume his practice in the rasengan.

"You know...learning this jutsu; it really makes me respect the Yondaime and Jiraiya-sensei on a whole new level." Naruto state as he started to form another ball, only for it to blow up in his face again.

"_Jiraiya-sensei?"_ Shizune mimicked. "I thought you called him 'Ero-sennin'." She asked.

"That was talking about the way he acts aside from his ninja capabilities. If he were just a pervert I would call him just that; but we're talking about the rasengan, you have to do quite a few things all at the same time, and I'm not even in the middle of a battle." Naruto explain as he continued to work.

"Well, it just goes to show, some men _can _multitask." Shizune said with a giggle.

"Yeah...well this'd be a lot easier if I could focus on one part at a time." Naruto said, then stopped in his tracks.

"Naruto-san?" Shizune asked, the situation seeming a little familiar to both Naruto and Rei who was listening inside.

"Concentrate on one thing at a time. _Kage bunshin no jutsu!" _Naruto called out excitedly.

He once again began forming the swirling ball of chakra, but this time, instead of focusing on all three things at once, Naruto worked on the rotation and power, while his clone held the shape. Both running together at a tree, Naruto thrust the rasengan into the tree, grinding away till it split in half, the rasengan still intact.

"You...you did it." Shizune said, stunned. Tsunade had given the boy a week and all he had needed was a few hours.

"Hardly, that was a shortcut. That isn't the way it's supposed to be done. You've seen Jiraiya-sensei do it. He does it one handed." Naruto countered.

"Naruto-san, that's a huge accomplishment in its self, you should be proud of yourself." Shizune complemented.

"Oh believe me I am," Naruto started, "but I won't claim that I've one that bet until I can at least do the jutsu without a shadow clone." Naruto stated. "The shadow clone passes on experience, so when I practice my part of the jutsu, I will get practice at both parts. Eventually I'll get how to do both parts at the same time." Naruto resumed his training. He didn't bother grinding into anything anymore, simply settling to form the ball over and over again. Every ten attempts Naruto tried to form and maintain the rasengan on his own. Much to his pleasure, by the fiftieth repetition he was able to hold the form of the rasengan for slightly longer than the original three seconds. That night Naruto fell asleep out in the open.

***********************************************************************************************************

**Back in Konoha**

Haku was lying down in a bed, trying to get a moments rest. The smell of the bed was strangely comforting, then again, that shouldn't have been so surprising; she was resting in the room that had been assigned to Naruto.

"Ah! There you are!" The voice of her sensei filled the room. Haku quickly jumped out of the bed, blushing a colour that a tomato would have been proud of.

"I...I'm sorry, Megumi-sensei." Haku spluttered out.

"It's fine that you're getting some rest, but it is a little unusual."Megumi assured, trailing off at the end.

"What's unusual?" Haku asked, somewhat perplexed."

"We~ell, when the doctors here get addictions, they usually go for the drugs they treat the patient with, not the patient they're treating." Megumi said with laughter in her eyes.

"Sensei!" Haku exclaimed, if possible going a deeper shade of red. Her sensei just giggled at her student's expense.

"In any case, I came to ask if you wanted to join me for dinner. You've been eating alone, Naruto hasn't been here and all his friends have had hectic schedules trying to recover from the invasion. I thought you could do with the company." Her sensei offered.

Haku looked at the woman before bowing. "I would like that very much, Sensei." She responded.

"Not sensei, not for tonight, just Megumi. We're dining as equals. It's a chance to just relax and even get a little bit of girl talk in."

"Megumi." Haku tested the word; it felt somewhat foreign as it was almost automatic to refer to her sensei as such.

The women went to the local dango restaurant, the Dango Palace, the same place that three of Konoha's most elite kunoichi happened to frequent on a regular basis. The women settle to a table, the restaurant, not having a formal booking system, just that if you did book then you were guaranteed a table on a busy night. With the restoration effort going on it wasn't all that crowded as people were all over the place performing jobs to aid the effort.

The two women settle down and made small talk. Haku was truly enjoying her conversation with her mentor, despite the occasional ribbing.

"So are you glad that you became a medic?" Megumi asked, hoping that her student didn't feel as though she had made the wrong choice but couldn't back out.

"For the most part I love it. There are parts that I don't like, like talking to the deceased's family." Haku recounted, she'd had to face worried families more than once in the recent past, it was never easy telling them that their loved one had passed on, and she was glad that none of them accused her of not trying hard enough, she always felt bad, feeling like their death had been her failure.

"So then what's the best part?" Megumi encouraged.

"Oh, easily working in post natal. The children, they're all so cute." Haku replied without hesitation, her eyes lighting up.

"Plan on having any yourself?" Megumi asked with a grin

A soft smile played across Haku's features as she thought about her answer.

"I'd love to one day." Haku said before taking a bite out of her dango.

"Do you plan on any of them having blond hair or blue eyes?" Megumi teased, her voice full of laughter.

Haku choked on the food that she was eating, thumping her chest to dislodge the piece that had gone the wrong way.

"Sensei, Naruto-kun and I aren't like that." Haku managed to choke out as she burned bright red.

"Oh, really? Well I never said anything about Naruto-kun, funny how your mind went straight to him isn't it." Megumi said slyly.

"Well who else could you have meant? Naruto is the only one from this village with blond hair and blue eyes." Haku reasoned, sending her sensei a dirty look in the process.

Megumi ignored the looked and asked something that had been on her mind for a while.

"So, what are you going to do when Naruto comes back?" Megumi asked with a completely straight face.

"Megumi-san...I'm not sure what you mean." Haku replied, tinging red slightly.

"Don't misunderstand. I want to know what you will do when Naruto returns with Tsunade. Will you still want train with me? Or will you want to trade in for a better sensei?" Megumi asked.

"No...not a better sensei, just a different one." Haku said fiercely.

"Regardless, would you want to change? I have offered Sakura the same and she I seriously considering it. You should to." She advised.

"I'm not sure. Sakura should, she's an active ninja, so she would get a lot of benefit from being taught by Tsunade-sama. Besides, how would you get Tsunade to take either one of us on?" Haku reasoned.

"I'm better placed than almost anyone else to make a request. I'm quite familiar with the Hokage, through my many years of treating Naruto." Megumi smirked.

Haku just nodded in understanding, seeing how that could work, Megumi talks to the Hokage and the Hokage makes a recommendation to Tsunade.

When the women had finished their meal, each went their own way and Haku was left to consider her options.

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**CHAPTER END**

Well that's all for now...if I go on, it's probs going to be a 15 K chapter; entirely too long.

Someone asked about Naruto not treating Anko's cursed seal. I said I'd try and work it in if possible, but what I had originally done sounded too forced, so I'm choosing to put it in here instead.

Anko has lived with her cursed seal that it doesn't really have much of an impact on her daily life

She's lived with the thing for so long without any hope of removal, waiting a week or two as the case is gonna be will seem like almost nothing

Naruto was knocked unconscious for a while the last time he tried it and they're not sure what will happen when he sings with Shizuka. It wouldn't be good to render anyone useless in such a time of crisis

Jiraiya needed to leave ASAP to look for Tsunade

Hope that cleared a few things up.

Also someone asked how long my chapters were in pages...well they're a minimum of 20 pages.

Now just so you know, I probably won't e updating for anything shorter than before the uni break (which starts in 3 weeks).

Until then guys.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 14**

So here we are the 15th instalment in this story…a really huge thanks to all those that have stuck with me thus far...and as always a massive thanks to those that take the time to review. Even though I don't ask people to review, getting that occasional pat on the back to say you're doing a good job is really satisfying, so thanks a lot guys and girls.

In any case down to business

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Haku had given the topic her sensei had approached her with a great deal of thought. Learning medical skills under the famed Tsunade of the Sannin was a once in a life time opportunity. However, she simply didn't want to abandon her original sensei as though she had used her and was now useless to Haku.

Her inner turmoil was causing her to lose sleep, until she figured she'd simply follow an old motto

'Ché sera sera." Haku said to herself softly before going about her usual duties in the hospital.

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Tsunade was in a similar predicament. She too had a major decision to make, the first decision of this magnitude since she decided to leave Konoha indefinitely.

When Orochimaru had approached her about his arms, he made her an offer. In return for healing his arms, Orochimaru would revive her beloved little brother, Nawaki, as well as Dan, her lover.

It was an offer that, for a short period, she had actually considered. Then when she came across Jiraiya and his brat of an apprentice, it was almost too good to pass up. The kid wouldn't be able to detect what was happening and Jiraiya would be to unsuspecting to think that she would poison him. She'd use their bodies as the sacrifices Orochimaru required to perform his jutsu.

Then that kid had gotten under her skin. He aggravated her enough to challenge him to a fight she knew he could never win. Through the course of that fight she had seen the spirit of both her little brother and her lover living on within this lively boy; she couldn't go through with her plan.

Then she went and made that bet with Naruto, wagering her life as a free woman and her grandfather's necklace against the life of his friend and his future dream; it all hinged on him being able to perform the rasengan by the end of the week. He had denied the week, claiming that it would only take a few days. At first she scoffed at him and doubted his ability, then came Shizune's reports of his progress and it terrified her.

She didn't know what scared her more, the fact that she may lose the bet and have to return to Konoha and face her past, or the fact that a part of her wanted the brat to actually win the bet.

In any case, she would have to make her decision soon; she doubted that Orochimaru would be so patient.

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The next day Tsunade found Jiraiya, watching Naruto from a distance. She drew a deep breath before talking

"Jiraiya, I need to talk with you." She said plainly.

Jiraiya heard the tone of her voice and realised that this was a time for complete seriousness, no perverted actions or stupid jokes.

"I'm listening." He replied gruffly.

"When you found me I told you that Orochimaru had approached me. You still want to know what he wanted?" She started, unsure of how to go about this. Jiraiya gave a quick nod of his head, indicating that he was still interested.

"He offered to revive Dan and Nawaki in exchange for healing his arms." Tsunade stated, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Jiraiya did double take, before he was about to berate her for even considering his offer. Tsunade held up a hand to stall the oncoming tongue lashing.

"I had originally considered the offer, but then I met you two. You have no idea how much I miss them Jiraiya, but when I look at that boy, I see them. Then I remember exactly what it was that the previous Hokages had died to defend. If I heal Orochimaru's he'll simply rise against the hidden leaf again. I hated him for disrespecting my ancestors when he summoned them, but if I help him to destroy the leaf by healing his arms, it would not only be the ultimate betrayal to my grandfather and grand uncle, but to Dan and Nawaki as well." Tsunade summed before continuing.

"To that end, irrespective of the outcome of this bet with Naruto, I will be returning with you to become the new Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato." Tsunade finished with pride and determination.

Never had Jiraiya affixed so piercing a look on Tsunade as he did now, yet his features eventually softened and smiled.

"I'm glad you decided that on your own, because you would have lost that bet any way. Have you told Shizune yet?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, I will tell her later. I think she'll be glad that we're finally settling down." Tsunade said with a slight grin on her face.

"Fine, I'll tell Naruto tonight; then we can see if we can set out a plan to try and take out Orochimaru when you are supposed to give him a response." Jiraiya responded.

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Joining Naruto and Jiraiya in their room, Tsunade and Shizune waited for Jiraiya to finish placing the silencing jutsu on the room that they were sitting in before. Seeing that Jiraiya had finished, Tsunade began.

"So, I got you all here to make an announcement. I...I have decided to become the Hokage." Tsunade announced, followed by a gasp of pleasure and surprise by Shizune.

"So what changed your mind?" Naruto asked, not expecting the sudden change of heart.

"In short, you did. If Jiraiya had asked on his own, there isn't a doubt in my mind that I would have refused and never even reconsidered." Tsunade explained. "The alternative was me helping Orochimaru in furthering his dreams of destroying the leaf village. In a round-about way, you made me realise that this would have been the greatest betrayal of all my loved one's memories." Tsunade concluded. Naruto nodded his understanding.

"So what about our bet? Is that off now?" Naruto asked.

"No...that is still definitely on. If you can master that jutsu I'll do more than simply give you the necklace, I'll recognise you as someone that really has the ability to go the distance and become a great Hokage." Tsunade changed her bet. She could no longer say that she wouldn't be Hokage unless he won the bet; neither would she force him to give up his life's goal. She would give him a new reason to strive for excellence.

"I will earn that respect, I promise you now." Naruto said solemnly. Tsunade smile at his promise; this time around, she had no doubt that he would keep his word.

"Now all that remains is to discuss what will be done about Orochimaru." Jiraiya responded.

Naruto was about to speak when Jiraiya cut him off.

"Naruto, when we confront Orochimaru, you will be remaining behind." Jiraiya started, only to be interrupted by an angry outburst from Naruto."

"What? Why? I won't get in the way; I won't even try to fight. After what he did to Konoha, I just wanna be there for it." Naruto tried to reason.

"Naruto, I understand where you're coming from; but try to understand where Tsunade and I are coming from. This is Orochimaru; he won't stop at anything if he thinks he might lose." Jiraiya said sternly, leaving little room for argument.

"You're gonna be staying right here, after all, you can't win our bet if you're dead. Besides, you won't be alone; Shizune will be keeping you company." Tsunade replied

"Tsunade-sama I..." Shizune started and was swiftly interrupted.

"This isn't up for debate, Shizune. I know you're a grown woman, but Jiraiya and I have our reasons." Tsunade said, instantly shooting down any responses.

Shizune merely nodded, but her face made it plain that she agreed with neither Jiraiya nor her own master's ideas.

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Jiraiya and Tsunade brazenly walked up to the agreed meeting place, Orochimaru was already there.

"So you decided to go against me, Tsunade?" Orochimaru called to his teammate. "At a guess you've come to reject my offer. Unless you've brought that useless fool as a sacrifice and are yet to kill him." Orochimaru drawled.

"I've been asked to become Hokage Orochimaru, so I thought as my first act as the new Hokage, I'd take out m scumbag of a teammate." Tsunade declared before racing through five hand seals.

Jiraiya matched her motions; Kabuto and Orochimaru both recognised to seals and made to quickly counter."

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu_!" All three called, in a giant plume of smoke the slug, snake and toad bosses stood underneath their respective summoners. It was the first time all three had been seen on the battle field at the same time in decades

"Orochimaru, where are my sacrifices? You know not to summon me unless you have 100 sacrifices ready." Manda hissed angrily.

"You will have them Manda, but after we crush my two foolish teammates."

"Orochimaru, this is the day that the legendary three are no more, only two will remain." Jiraiya declared.

"Come try me." Orochimaru hissed as Manda rushed Gamabunta.

"Try this, _supped hydro!" _Tsunade retorted, Katsuya spitting at Manda a slime that dissolved everything it touched.

Manda dodged by burrowing underground just as he reached Gamabunta.

"Bunta, fill up that worm's hole with oil." Jiraiya commanded.

Gamabunta responded immediately by sending copious amounts of oil into Manda's burrow. Before the toad could stop spitting out oil Jiraiya had formed more hand seals.

"_Katon_: _Gamayu Endan_!" Jiraiya announced his jutsu, the intense flame that was produced burning through the tunnel at a ridiculous pace, Manda was forced to surface, where Katsuya was waiting; the queen of slug spat more acid slime at the snake boss only for it to contort its body out of the way in midair and wrap up Katsuya within his coils.

Jiraiya saw the opportunity and felt like laughing at the snake's stupidity. Katsuya was could suffer physical damage without any real worry. She had the ability to break up into smaller parts and then reform to her full size if need be.

"Bunta, time to slice and dice. Cut 'em both." Jiraiya commanded.

The toad didn't respond with words, it simply acted, slicing both the snake and the slug in half. The slug formed two half sized slugs while Manda's tail was severed from the upper part of his body. The tail thrashed on the ground as Katsuya reformed into her larger self.

"Curse you Orochimaru." Manda angrily hissed before dispelling to the snake realm.

"Damn, missed." The toad boss heaved. Manda would survive the hit, each boss had their own ability, he was shortened, but not dead, a more definitive blow would be required.

"Bunta, you satisfied with that? You can make that snake skin wallet for your wife now."

"No, I'm not using anything less than the skin from his head for that." The toad boss replied before dismissing himself.

"Lady Tsunade, my usefulness is at an end here, I will only get in the way from here on out." The slug boss informed her summoner before leaving as well.

Kabuto decided to leave Jiraiya to Orochimaru, despite not having his arms, his master would still fair better against the Gama-Sannin. Kabuto rushed in taking on Tsunade, he thought that both being medical ninja might have afforded him some sort of level playing field, but sadly for the leaf traitor, there was a world of difference between the power and experience of a sannin and that of a high level iryou nin.

Kabuto slashed at Tsunade's chest with his chakra scalpel, hoping to hit any one of the several vital points in the area, the strike was dodged and then countered by a punch that was literally 'bone shattering'. Six of Kabuto's ribs had been shattered along with his sternum, luckily he had managed to send chakra to the area to soften the blow and he was already working on repairing the damage.

Tsunade retaliated this time, running before jumping, she cock her arm just as Kabuto jumped clear of the danger, not a moment later Tsunade formed a crater in the ground, the punch being felt even miles away.

As the iryou nin skirmish continued Jiraiya was continually hounding Orochimaru, who without the use of his jutsu, was resorting to opportunistic attacks that were dealing little damage and few of which actually connected anyway.

Orochimaru could easily see that they were out matched and decided that a tactical retreat was the best option this time around.

"Kabuto, pull back, we're leaving!" Orochimaru ordered.

"Great strategy, but we're not going to let you pull it off." Jiraiya snorted as he pursued Orochimaru.

"Kabuto, cut yourself, draw blood." Orochimaru called to his follower. The haggard Kabuto would have questioned but between fighting Tsunade and realising that he should never question his master he ran his chakra scalpel across his forearm. Tsunade saw the blood and instantly froze; she had a paralysing fear of blood.

'Haemophobia?' Kabuto quickly thought to himself.

Orochimaru saw the opening and pounced. He regurgitated the Kusanagi and raced for an immobile Tsunade. Jiraiya watched and did the only thing that made sense; he put himself between Orochimaru and Tsunade. The sword pierced his left lung, narrowly missing his heart, the blood splattering across Tsunade's face.

Orochimaru, who had originally been considering a retreat, was now looking to press his advantage, Jiraiya had received a wound from Kusanagi; its fast acting poison would slow him down considerably. Tsunade was immobile, paralysed by her fear of blood.

A thousand thoughts had passed through Tsunade's mind since Kabuto had sliced his arm. Many of them focussed on the blood of the loved one she could not save even with her skills as a med nin. Then as Jiraiya's blood splashed on her face something changed about her thought process, breaking into the usual cycle of seeing Dan and Nawaki's mangled bodies flashing through her mind.

"Blood…Jiraiya's blood…he's wounded…because of me…I said that I was Hokage…what kind of a ninja am I? A Hokage that was afraid of blood? Ridiculous! I am needed…I will protect my comrades." A new spark entered Tsunade's eyes; it spoke of determination; of a desire to protect.

As Jiraiya freed his chest of the blade, she rushed in with a speed she had not possessed since the days of her prime. She sent a devastating left hook at Orochimaru's jaw, feeling a small measure of satisfaction when she felt it crack.

The sickly sannin went flying from the force of the punch; Tsunade made to follow up, but was intercepted by an exhausted Kabuto.

"I don't have time for this crap." Tsunade snarled at the teenager before slamming her knee into his gut, the boy was held still by Tsunade's grip around his neck, a grip that was slowly tightening. Orochimaru's tongue wielding Kusanagi curved around both Kabuto and Tsunade, aiming to strike Tsunade in the back, she threw Kabuto at Orochimaru before grabbing his tongue.

She yanked hard on the tongue, pulling Orochimaru in, before smashing her fist upon his face once again. The force sent Orochimaru flying once again, his tongue still firmly in Tsunade's grasp, the result was for a small portion of the elongated tongue to snap off and remain within Tsunade's grasp.

Chucking the piece of tongue to the side she readied herself for a new attack.

Orochimaru surveyed the situation. Jiraiya was for all accounts dead unless he got medical treatment immediately. He could quite easily stall Tsunade for that length of time, but his survival was not guaranteed either.

"I think I'm going to have to end this little meeting Tsunade, the next time we meet it will be when I raze the leave village to the ground." Orochimaru said with a venomous look about his face.

"Get back here you worm." Tsunade snarled as she raced in. By the time she had reached both leaf traitors to where they had finished up after being his they had already disappeared into the ground.

Tsunade quickly turned to Jiraiya and made to see what she could do for the man. The poison had almost instantly slowed Jiraiya's heart rate to that only seen in sleeping people.

"Well, Hokage-sama," Jiraiya started with a lecherous grin, "wanna grant this dying man's last wish and let him go out with a bang?" Jiraiya said.

"Baka, shut up and live, you can ask again after I save your sorry ass then I can beat you down for it." Tsunade said with a soft smile as a bead of sweat made its way down her forehead. She was already working on extracting the poison."

"Dammit, the poison has perfused through your entire blood system and the poison isn't responding to normal extraction techniques." Tsunade said with a slightly worried edge to her voice.

"Hime, I've had a good life, I don't mind if I died protecting you." Jiraiya said softly, resigning himself to his fate.

"I'm not letting you die. _Kage bunshin_" Tsunade said.

"The poison isn't responding to normal techniques, so I'm gonna do something at little left field." Tsunade informed. She unsealed her supplies; a direct transfusion line, a bloodletting line, not attached to the bag and a pile of blood pills.

Jiraiya simply lay there and let the woman work, who was he to stop her from saving his life.

"I'm cutting you open, and sending all the blood returning to the heart through that line." Tsunade started explaining as she worked.

"Why not just stick in a normal needle?" Jiraiya asked, his mind now starting to get rather foggy.

"Because a needle doesn't get all the blood in a vein, just a sample. I'm gonna siphon off all your blood and replace it with my own just after where the heart stated pumping the blood to the rest of the system. There are gonna be parts of your body that are without blood for a while."

She started the process, siphoning Jiraiya's blood for a full minute before replacing any to avoid the risk of her blood mingling with Jiraiya's poisoned blood. Then after a minute she started replacing, almost instantly chewing down on a blood pill. This process continued for about forty more minutes until she was certain that she had replaced the blood. Sure enough, Jiraiya's stats had started to return to normal, though he would need a while to recover.

"Done, anything to say?" Tsunade demanded, though she knew not to expect a thanks, it was her fault he was in this position in the first place.

"You said that blood supply would be removed from various parts of my body…which parts?" Jiraiya asked with an innocent look on his face.

"You really are a pervert, I perform a world first surgery and that's the first thing that you ask. C'mon let's get back to the other two."

Jiraiya nodded as Tsunade helped him off of the ground and supported some of his weight.

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**Midway through the sannin fight**

"Wh…what the hell was that?" Naruto exclaimed as the ground shook underneath their feet.

"That..that was probably Tsunade-sama." Shizune said as she calmly sipped her tea.

How the woman remained so calm when she just admitted that her sensei had just caused a minor earthquake was beyond his grasp, then again, she was probably used to such ridiculous feats of strength after having travelled with the woman for many years.

"I hope they're OK." Naruto worried out aloud.

"They'll be fine, they are sannin after all." Shizune said quite calmly.

Naruto continued to watch Shizune drink her tea, something about the whole situation seemed off. Shizune had been drinking from her tea, yet the level of fluid in the cup wasn't going down, and now that h thought about it, Shizune hadn't blinked in the longest time.

"KAI!" Naruto cried out, snapping his palms together and forcing chakra out of his body. The illusion was destroyed as Naruto saw a bloody Shizune lying on the floor mere metres away. Between himself and Shizune were two figures wearing black cloak with red clouds on them. Both of them were facing Shizune.

"Heh, to think that she gave the mighty Itachi Uchiha enough trouble to lose focus on his genjutsu so that a mere genin could get out of it." The taller of the two taunted.

"What have you done, what do you want with Shizune?" Naruto demanded.

"Not Tsunade's apprentice, you Uzumaki." Itachi replied in a deadened tone. "When we told her we we're not interested in her, but you, she jumped to your defence." Itachi continued as though her were bored.

"You, you're Sasuke's brother aren't you?' Naruto asked.

"I am, though that hold's little bearing here. You're going to have to come with us Naruto." Itachi replied.

"And if I refuse.' Naruto tested.

"Not an option." Was the only response that he got from Itachi.

"You can go ahead Itachi, it's my turn now. You had your turn with the girl, this one is mine." Kisame told his teammate. Kisame had turned to look at Naruto, he was blue in both hair and skin colour, with teeth strangely reminiscent of a sharks mouth and what appeared to be gills under his eyes.

"Just make sure to leave him alive Kisame. And hurry before Tsunade and Jiraiya get back, otherwise you will die."

"Na…Naruto…run…get…get away." Shizune said weakly.

"You're partner wants to capture me by the sound of it, but you just seem to wanna fight." Naruto stated.

"You're a smart one." Kisame chuckled with a toothy grin.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu._" Naruto intoned. Kisame prepared himself, but the clone went straight to Shizune and started tending to her. Naruto gave her one last fleeting look before flying out the window.

"GET BACK HERE YOU BRAT!" Kisame roared, taking after Naruto.

Naruto was fleeing as fast as he could, Kisame quickly gaining on him. Just when Naruto got to the field he had been training the rasengan in, he stopped running and turned to face Kisame.

"So realised it was pointless?" Kisame jeered.

"I'm going to make sushi out of you for what you did to Shizune." Naruto growled.

Kisame drew the giant object he was carrying on his back. In an instant he was standing in front of Naruto swinging his blade down. Naruto had enough time to jump aside before the object crashed down, sending chunks of rock everywhere. He was granted little reprieve as the downward motion changed to sideways, the object crashed into Naruto and then quickly retracted, taking Naruto's flesh with it.

"This is my sword, samehada. Instead of cutting, it shaves." Kisame said as he unwrapped the blade of the sword.

Naruto realised that the power Kisame hit with, a kunai was about as good as a twig. For the first time in actual combat, Naruto unsealed the sword Hayate had given him.

"So you have one two, well my day just gets better and better." Kisame said almost gleefully.

Naruto didn't even respond, he removed chakra from his bracers and shot forwards. Kisame recognised the move, and just as Naruto unsheathed his sword in an attempt to use _battoujutsu, _Kisame stepped back.

"Wide open." Kisame uttered, raising samehada and bringing it down on top of Naruto.

"_Sou Ryu Sen"_ Naruto said as he performed the technique.

Naruto didn't even hesitate, he followed through with his motion, the sword had missed, but he sent the sheath of the sword into Kisame's ribs with enough force to hear one crack. The fish man grunted as his strike went slightly wide of Naruto due to the sudden pain.

Naruto quickly backed off; this man was no ordinary opponent. He tried the same thing against Hayate and the man was far more affected, but this man only grunted and readied himself to attack again.

This time Kisame ran in, barely slowed by the cracked right rib. He lead with a right to left downward diagonal that was side stepped by Naruto, who made to counter with a quick slash. He was force to change plans as Kisame recovered far more quickly than expected and swung vertically left to right. Naruto had to quickly step out of range before jumping over a thrust sent at his mid section.

In midair Naruto announced his technique.

"_Ryu tsui sen." _The slash was dodged and Kisame sent a thrust kick at Naruto to get some distance between the two.

"You're better than I expected with that." Kisame conceded.

Naruto didn't bother to exchange banter, he couldn't afford to, one slip in his concentration and he'd be captured.

'_Naruto, take my chakra. You need it now more than ever.'_ Rei said to Naruto, she could see where this was going, it was not looking good.

'No…I fought Orochimaru on my own and I'll fight this guy on my own.' Naruto thought stubbornly.

Rei wanted to press the issue, she knew how stubborn the boy could be and he needed all his concentration for this.

Naruto knew what he was going to do, it was a matter of whether or not he could get the timing right.

Naruto had re-sheathed his sword and once again and was running at Kisame.

"You already tried that brat and I won't let you get the second shot in this time around." Kisame warned, yet Naruto did not change his course.

Naruto made the battoujutsu move once again, but this time, just as the sword was clear of his sheath, he sent wind chakra thought the blade, lengthening it and making sharper.

Kisame stepped back just as Naruto made his move, but only saw the wind chakra at the very last second.

"SHIT!" Kisame cursed in surprise, he tried to bring up the samehada, hoping that the chakra consuming capabilities would be able to take care of the wind addition to the blade.

Soundlessly, Naruto's blade passed right through both Kisame's blade and his right arm, severing both clean off from the rest of their respective counter parts. Kisame's blade may have been able to absorb chakra, but the rate it absorbed at could not compete with the rate that Naruto was sending chakra into his own blade.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?" An enraged Kisame shrieked.

"Kisame, enough, with a wound like that you'll die if you continue." Itachi called to his partner before turning to Naruto.

"You live for another day Uzumaki, but the Akatsuki will have your Bijuu soon enough." Itachi warmed before picking up Kisame's right arm and disappearing via shunshin.

Naruto remained on guard the whole time that that Itachi was there, he had no delusions that he could take both of them on even if one of them was severely wounded.

The pain from the flesh that Kisame had torn away was really starting to get to Naruto but he forced the thought out of his mind.

'Shizune.' Naruto thought desperately.

They had left behind the top half of Kisame's blade behind; Naruto sealed it into a scroll before racing off to the hotel room.

Back in the hotel room Naruto immediately looked at the clone and told it to go and get Tsunade.

"Naruto…what are you doing back here?" Shizune asked weakly, her breathing far more laboured that when he left.

"Don't worry about that, just rest. My clone is getting Tsunade; she'll be here in a second." Naruto urged.

"I don't think I have that long Naruto. You said that you know Kakashi well." Shizune started, Naruto nodding in confirmation. "Pass on a message for me will you? Tell him that if he had asked, I would have said yes." She asked weakly.

"Whatever that means, you can tell him yourself. Just hold on a little longer." Naruto said, refusing to simply let her go.

"Shizune!" It was Tsunade's voice.

"Shizune, what happened?" Tsunade's voice wailed as she watched the girl she revered as a daughter slowly have the life ebb away from her.

Tsunade tried to a healing jutsu, but she was running on empty after her fight with both Orochimaru and Kabuto, and then healing Jiraiya's punctured lung.

"I can't…I can't do anything. I don't even have enough chakra to start the jutsu, let alone maintain it." Tsunade was practically in tears.

All three resigned to make Shizune's last moments more comfortable, Naruto had formed a fist so tightly that his fingernails had caused his hand to bleed.

Naruto felt so helpless, he wanted to be able to do something, but he wasn't sure…

…_the water of our body is blessed to have amazing healing qualities…_

In a moment of clarity he remembered his mother's last words to him in her letter.

"My blood…" Naruto said out aloud. Jiraiya and Tsunade gave him a strange look, Shizune dully flickered her eyes in his direction.

"Shizune, do you trust me?" Naruto asked, no time for hesitation. The woman nodded weakly.

Naruto steeled himself before continuing.

"I want you to drink my blood. It will heal you." Naruto said, completely straight faced.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Tsunade demanded. "Shizune?" Tsunade gasped in shock as the woman opened her mouth.

Naruto held his hand over her mouth and clenched his fist harder and watched as his blood ran into her waiting mouth. She swallowed and the effect was near instantaneous.

Her wounds started steaming, the small cuts closing over rapidly, the larger ones taking their time, but eventually closing over as well. The steaming stopped when all the wounds were healed. The woman was now sleeping peacefully after her wounds were healed.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, but you have some explaining to do." Tsunade stated.

The three were sitting around the table when Naruto started.

"Ok m mother was from a clan called the phoenix clan. In her letter to me, she says that the phoenix somehow garnered the favour of a god and managed to gain immortality on the battle field. Phoenixes only die from old age." Naruto started, he could see that Tsunade was about to interrupt, but continued anyway.

"If you have and doubts, talk to anyone on my genin cell. They all saw my head chopped off, then burst into flame and was reincarnated."

"Just like phoenix." Tsunade surmised in awe.

"Also, the water in our body is also blessed. It heals anyone it comes into contact with. It heals them faster than us, but it's still better than nothing.

"So you could potentially save your enemy in the middle of a battle?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, I suppose so." Naruto replied, not having really given much thought to the idea before.

"Anyway, as I said, the water heals; I had Shizune drink my blood because it was already on hand, no pun intended." Naruto finished.

"This is going to have to be kept a secret. Imagine what Orochimaru would do if he found out that you couldn't be killed on the battlefield." Tsunade said thoughtfully.

"So what happened in the first place?" Jiraiya asked.

"In short Itachi tried to capture me, but Shizune defended, so he wounded her like that." Naruto reported.

"And you fought off Itachi Uchiha?" Tsunade asked sceptically.

"No he had a partner; Kisame. He told Itachi to go ahead and he'd take care of me." Naruto continued.

"So? That still doesn't explain how you're still here. He was an S ranked ninja" Jiraiya said.

"Is an S ranked ninja; I didn't kill him, I only cut off his left arm and severed his blade." Naruto finished.

"Only? You _only_ severed his arm and blade? That is a feat that anyone should be proud of." Jiraiya informed.

"He was underestimating me the whole way, so when I used wind chakra in my own blade he was caught off guard. After that Itachi collected is arm and the both retreated." Naruto downplayed the events; he really was tired and wanted to sleep.

"Oh and one last thing." Naruto addressed Tsunade. "You owe me a necklace." Naruto said as he formed a perfect rasengan in his right hand. Tsunade watched the orb in amazement.

"I wanted to used it on fish face, but I never really got the chance." Naruto concluded before passing out at the table.

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**End Chapter**

Well, that's another chapter done…I'm gonna go cook dinner, till next time.

Cheers,

Fish.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 15**

Well...I don't really have really that much to say. Except an apology for not updating for quite a while and my usual thanks to those to take the time out (unasked) to review. It may seem like I'm putting this thanks here out of obligation, but I really do appreciate your words of encouragement (or constructive criticism) when they come my way.

In any case...on with the story

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"You know, you really are lucky that we have both a med nin as well as me to save you from your own stupidity, Kisame." A man wearing a black mask across the lower half of his face and a slashed Takigakure hitai-ate told Kisame as he was reattaching his arm with thread.

"He's quite right, Kisame-san. Without either one of us, you would have only had partial use of that arm again." A woman with unusual face markings and a slashed Konoha head band on her head.

"Quit your yabbering Kazuku, just get on with it. And yes I'm aware of that Rin." Kisame said getting fed up with being treated like a child for the umpteenth time.

"Leader-sama is annoyed, Kisame. He is...displeased with our failure." Itachi intoned as he walked in the room.

"I'm not surprised." Kisame noted. "Still, thanks for grabbing my arm. Wish you could have grabbed the bottom half of Samehada, though." Kisame ceded.

"Your arm was not my concern, neither was the other half of your blade." Itachi clarified for his partner.

"Eh? What?" Kisame was stunned. What the hell would he have picked his arm up for?

"The ring was attached to that arm or more specifically your hand. I was tempted to lop of the finger necessary and simply carry that back." Itachi continued as though Kisame's stunned outburst hadn't occurred.

"And if the ring was attached to his dick and that had been severed? Would you have carried that around with you Itachi?" A man with silver hair and no shirt asked as he joined the congregation.

"He would not put it there. It has no function." Itachi replied monotonously.

"Well if he's stupid enough to get beaten by a genin then he's stupid enough to do almost anything."

"Screw you, Hidan." Kisame cussed at the new arrival.

"Maybe later. Leader-sama wants to see you, Rin." Hidan delivered his message before disappearing.

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**Elsewhere**

"So, this Akatsuki...they're really powerful and after the bijuu?" Naruto summarised after listening to what Jiraiya had to say.

"That's pretty much it. I wasn't expecting them to move in this early...I thought we had a few more years before they came looking for you, but they have apparently moved their plans ahead." Jiraiya told Naruto.

"Do you know who their leader is?" Tsunade asked.

"No not yet. He's a man completely shrouded in mystery." Jiraiya answered, slightly disturbed that a spymaster of his calibre still hadn't turned up a single shred of information about the organisation's leader.

"In any case, we need to get moving; Konoha's currently without a leader. Even if the situation remains the same when we get back, other countries are less likely to attack if they see that we are unified under a single leader." Jiraiya said as he picked up the only item he ever carried on him; the large scroll usually attached to his back (everything else was usually sealed within storage scrolls).

While they were travelling the group made light conversation, eventually making its way around to Naruto's mastery of the rasengan.

"So brat...exactly how long did it take for you to master that move?" Tsunade asked, wondering how much time he had spent beforehand working on the technique.

Naruto stopped to think about it before responding.

"Well Ero-sennin started teaching me the day we left to find you...so I suppose that was about three or four days to find you, then you issued your challenge and I completed it the night before you guys took on snake face. So roughly two days after that...all told about six days." Naruto told her.

Shizune's jaw fell open as Tsunade just stared in disbelief. The boy had finished a jutsu that took the Yondaime 3 years to develop and Jiraiya 6 months to learn in less than a week, it was inconceivable.

She gave Jiraiya a quick look for him to either verify or falsify the statement, receiving a sharp nod in return to confirm.

"That's...incredible." Tsunade managed to stagger out.

Naruto just gave a foxy grin and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Hold still." Tsunade ordered as she was walking towards him.

Naruto froze, not sure what to expect, but still trusting the woman even after knowing her for such a short period of time. When Tsunade was standing in front of Naruto she took the necklace her grandfather, the Shodaime, had given her and placed it around Naruto's neck.

"This necklace, take it as a symbol of my belief in you; that if you stay true, that you can become greater than any Kage in history." Tsunade told him as she placed it around his neck.

Naruto's eyes went wide. It was the first time that some one really gave him this kind of recognition. Kakashi, Sarutobi even Jiraiya; they all believed he was capable of great things, but had never really told him. The emotion seemed too much for him and he did the only thing that seemed to make sense, he hugged Tsunade as he would a mother; a hug that she gladly returned.

The remainder of the trip home was rather uneventful; aside from Jiraiya's legendary lechery being punished by Tsunade's legendary strength.

Without having to actually find anyone, the group managed to move a lot faster and travelled directly to Konoha, stopping only once for a sleep.

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**At the Konoha Gates**

"They're back! Go inform Sandaime-sama!" A chuunin guard with a bandage going from under his chin and around his nose called to one of the other guards.

A minute or two later the Sandaime Hokage appeared with his bandaged arms to greet his two returning students. As the group approached within earshot he called to them.

"Tsunade, Shizune-san; welcome back to Konoha. Jiraiya, Naruto; good work on a mission completed." Sarutobi called across the distance.

"Thank you, Sandaime-sama." Shizune returned respectfully.

"It's good to be back old man." Tsunade returned less respectfully, though still full of affection in her voice. She had grown up knowing the Sandaime, before he was her sensei she had seen him around being trained by her grandfather and grand-uncle.

"Well, I'm gonna go find Nii-chan. He is soooo treating me to ramen after the trip. Baa-chan, don't forget that I want you to see if you can help my friends in the hospital." Naruto called to the group before disappearing before any one could say anything.

"Trouble along the way?" Sarutobi asked, ignoring the fact that Naruto had called Tsunade 'Grandma'.

"You could say that. Nothing we can talk about out here though. We'll fill you in back in the Hokage's office, Sensei." Jiraiya answered, making Sarutobi raise an eyebrow, Jiraiya never referred to him like that unless it was completely serious.

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**With Naruto**

Kakashi had been listening to Naruto tell him of his mission, even though it was S ranked, the details were not classified as per normal. He had now abandoned the bowl of shrimp ramen as he listened to his little brother tell him that he had mastered a jutsu that had taken his sensei years to develop before demonstrating one of the most advanced jutsu in Konoha as though he were doing nothing more than opening a door.

Naruto resumed telling him about the rest of the trip, just when he thought it was safe to take another mouth full Naruto came out with another bomb.

"What else...oh yeah; I was attacked by Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. I managed to severe Kisame's right arm and cut his blade in half.

This time Kakashi choked on his mouthful of noodles.

"Y...You what?" He managed to choke out.

"I cut of his arm and severed his blade here look." Naruto repeated before unsealing the top half of Kisame's blade, Samehada.

"Yeah...Itachi messed Shizune pretty up pretty badly; she was on the verge of death, but..." Naruto looked around to see who was listening before lowering his voice and continuing, "I got her to drink some of my blood and she healed up in no time."

Kakashi went as pale as a sheet before Naruto had finished his sentence, only regaining colour after Naruto mentioned that the medic was alive and well.

"She said some funny things as her last words though, before she drank my blood, that is." Naruto continued, still barely aware his older brother's reaction.

"Yeah...she asked me to pass you a message." Naruto informed.

"Oh?" Kakashi intoned, his interest piqued.

"She asked me to tell you that if you had asked that she would have said yes...still can't work out what she meant thought." Naruto finished the last of his story before inhaling the rest of his ramen.

Kakashi apparently cold work out what she meant, and if you could have seen his face, the largest grin he had ever worn was adorning his visage.

"Anyway, thanks for the food, I'm gonna go and find a few others." Naruto told Kakashi before leaving.

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"Well, that certainly is an interesting trip you all had. If that's the case I'm glad you all came back safely." Sarutobi expressed as his two students reported on the retrieval mission.

"I've been thinking, since we went to look for Naruto's relative, that perhaps I should take him away from the village." Jiraiya told the other two occupants in the room (Shizune was making preparations for their lodgings).

"For what purpose?" Sarutobi asked, though he already had a fair idea.

"To train him. He has S ranked missing-nin on his tail, we know that they want the bijuu, but not for what purpose. In any case, you can bet it won't be good. He got away last time by sheer luck more than anything, next time they will be one hundred percent serious, he won't stand a chance. He needs to be able to hold his own." Jiraiya told the current Sandaime and the yet to be instated Godaime.

"I can see your point." Sarutobi ceded.

"That's not all. If he's in the village he'll be easy for them to find. They'll just target the village. I can make him disappear off the map. It'll be safer for him and the village that way." Jiraiya continued, pointing out more benefits.

"Still, I won't bring it up with him just yet, but it may be inevitable." Jiraiya said before turning to Tsunade, "You actually need to talk to the boy as the kage." Jiraiya mentioned.

"About?" Tsunade was perplexed, how many more secrets could the boy have?

"While we _are_ at liberty to speak, it might be better from a trust point of view if you got him to tell you." Sarutobi said cryptically.

"Call him in then." Tsunade said after a moment's thought.

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**With Naruto**

"You mean she's in the village. She gave you that necklace? She flicked you in the forehead? PLEASE LET ME TOUCH YOU!" Tenten fired out one question after another, all the while being less than two inches away from Naruto, eyes completely glazed over.

"Yes, yes, yes; it really hurt and no, you're starting to creep me out Tenten. If you really want to meet her that bad then I'll introduce you or something, just back up a bit." Naruto said, a giant sweat drop forming on the back of his head as Tenten showed her fanatical idolism for the only female sannin.

"Impressive, though I am interested to see this new technique that you've mastered." Shino congratulated.

"The rasengan? Sure." Naruto said with a grin.

He walked over to a giant rock on the outskirt of a clearing within the training grounds. With barely a thought he formed a rasengan in his hand and showed it to the group.

"It's a ball? That's it? Kinda disappointing really." Kiba said out loud.

"Kiba, let him _use_ the jutsu before you judge." Kurenai scolded.

Naruto nodded thanks to the primary sensei of team 9 before turning to the rock behind him and gently pushing his palm towards it and eventually boring straight through the rock.

"What the? That's insane!" Sai commented as he noted the destruction the jutsu caused from such a casual application.

"Very impressive, Naruto. It must have been hard work to learn a jutsu that took the Yondaime himself three years to develop." Kurenai complimented.

"Yep...but it was worth every..." Naruto stated, but everyone's attention diverted to the ANBU that had just appeared in the clearing by way of shunshin.

"Naruto Uzumaki you are required to meet with Sandaime-sama and Godaime-sama." The ANBU said, holding out his arm, "Hold on, I will shunshin both of us there." The ANBU finished.

Naruto waved a quick goodbye to the group before grabbing hold of the ANBU's arm and being whisked away.

"That is one seriously nasty jutsu." Ami said inspecting the rubble with Misao.

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Upon arriving in the room the ANBU immediately excused himself and returned to him post.

"Naruto, before you get the wrong idea, you're not in any trouble. I just thought it might be better if you shared some information about yourself with Tsunade, rather than us betraying the trust you put in us." Sarutobi greeted calmly.

Naruto looked completely out at sea so Jiraiya gave him hint.

"To do with your tenant brat." Jiraiya mentioned, Naruto's eyes lighting up instantly in understanding.

"Right, _kage bunshin no jutsu!"_ Naruto called, summoning Rei into the real world.

"Rei-chan, meet Baa-chan." Naruto introduced.

"Konichiwa Tsunade-san." Rei greeted with a bow.

"You got him here to show me that he could perform a henged clone? What does that have to do with the Kyuubi? Unless...oh hell." Tsunade rambled, not entirely sure where this was going, her questions were stemmed by a hand from Sarutobi who then redirected her attention to Naruto.

"Baa-chan, this is Rei Kagirinai, or as you may know her, Kyuubi no Kitsune." Naruto finished the introductions.

"This is a joke, right?" Tsunade asked in disbelief, though considering who she was dealing with it shouldn't have come as such a surprise.

"Nope...no joke. The truth of the matter is it's just Rei's soul I pulled out of the seal. One day I figured that if her chakra could escape, then so could her soul. The seal was made to seal her power more than anything, so I just focussed on her soul when performing the jutsu." Naruto gave a quick explanation.

Tsunade nodded sombrely, there wasn't anything that she needed to do about the news, but it may have avoided a sticky situation later on.

"Right. Well I think that it's high time that we paid the hospital a visit." Tsunade said.

"You mean?" Naruto asked, his hopes for Sakura rising momentarily.

"I'm not making any promises, but I will see what I can do for the Kumo kid as well as your teammate." Tsunade said sternly, she was a medic, not a miracle worker and as such would never give that impression.

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**Konoha General Hospital**

Upon walking into the hospital many of the staff turned and stood in awe of a medical genius such as Tsunade gracing their presence. Many bowed in respect, Naruto was amazed at the respect she commanded.

Tsunade walked up to the reception desk and asked for the two names that Naruto had told her about.

"I'm looking for Rin Fuushi and Sakura Haruno." Tsunade requested, the receptionist jumping to action immediately.

"Ms Haruno is in room 241, in the long stay section. Ms Fuushi is in the ICU, down the corridor and..." The receptionist informed, getting cut off midway.

"Directions are necessary; it doesn't look like the place has change in the time I've been away." Tsunade intersected, before walking off with Naruto in tow.

The first stop was Rin Fuushi's room; Tsunade stopped to read the case notes. She was surprised to read that Sakura Haruno had managed to use an A rank technique to poison her opponent. From what she read the poison was attacking the nerves and required pin point chakra control to extract. Too little and the poison wouldn't respond, too much and she may well damage the very nerves she was trying to save.

"This should be possible to help." Tsunade muttered to herself more than anyone else as she was walking into the room.

A blonde woman's head shot up at the unexpected intrusion, but her eyes widened with shock as she saw who had entered the room.

"Naruto-kun? Tsunade-sama?" Yugito asked groggily, she had apparently been sleeping.

"Nee-chan, told ya I'd bring her back." Naruto boasted with a slight grin.

"You did indeed." The Kumo kunoichi admitted before turning to Tsunade. "You will be able to help her right? Even if it is just to be able to move again?" She asked, giving a hopeful look to the master medic.

"It should be easy enough. It's just a simple matter of chakra control. I shouldn't have too much of a problem. The medics here aren't what they used to be. I guess they got complacent and didn't truly try to develop their skills in the absence of the war." Tsunade noted, her mind already ticking over about ways to change that when she became Kage.

"I won't be treating today, I've been travelling for the last two days and would actually like a rest for an evening before trying to do something like this; her condition is stable enough for me not to need to intervene instantly." Tsunade summarised. Yugito nodded at the explanation and said she would be here for the procedure the next day.

"Now for your teammate." Tsunade said as she turned on to look at Naruto.

"Thank you." Naruto said quietly. Tsunade simply smiled and ruffled his hair.

Looking through Sakura's case notes, Tsunade's face slowly developed more and more of a scowl.

"That idiot. He did this to a comrade? Over something so petty? He should have lost his rank on the spot." Tsunade muttered darkly.

"You can still help right?" Naruto asked, though not sure if he would like the answer.

"...I'm not sure. Rin's case was just purely based on my skill as a medical practitioner. This time there is also a bit of luck involved." Tsunade informed.

Tsunade walked into the room and was greeted with the sight of Sasuke Uchiha helping Sakura feed herself.

"Naruto, is that..." Sasuke started.

"Tsunade Senju." Sakura whispered almost reverently.

"Sakura. My name is Tsunade. I'm doing a personal favour to the brat here. He asked me to look into your case." Tsunade started out.

"Right boys out you go." Tsunade waited for the boys to march out before continuing. "I've looked through your case notes. They say that Neji damaged the nerve clusters in your knees and elbows. With time you will regain some movement on your own. You will be able to walk feed yourself and perform another other activities of living." Tsunade told her of the current prognosis.

"Going this way I can tell you that your ninja career will be over right here and now. If I operate, then you may regain full use of your legs and arms." Tsunade offered.

"There is a 'but' here isn't there?" Sakura interrupted.

"Very astute. Yes, I have to force chakra into the space between your nerves* to clear out the chakra obstructing the pathways, but your nerve endings may be permanently damaged. In our world death is not the worst possible outcome. If this goes wrong, you will never be able to move again. Everything you do will need to be assisted, _everything." _Tsunade gave the grim news.

"What are the chances of it going wrong?" Sakura asked, weighing her options_._

"About fifty fifty." Tsunade replied, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"I'm not going to ask you for a decision right now. But consider not having the operation. You could live a normal civilian life, if you don't." Tsunade tried to show here the benefits.

Sakura was deep in thought, as Tsunade watched her carefully before leaving her to her thoughts.

"You two can go back in now, she might need the company." Tsunade told the boys as she walked out.

Sasuke and Naruto entered the room, finding a Sakura that didn't seem any more happy or sad than when they left.

"What did she say?" Sasuke asked.

"She gave me a couple of options. I've got to decide what option I want to take. Each one has its pros and cons." Sakura replied, guarding her words.

The two boys spent the rest of the day talking to Sakura, trying to keep her in good cheer.

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"_Kage bunshin no jutsu."_ Naruto cried out in a backstreet, calling out Rei in her teen form.

"Thanks. I love it out here so much better." Rei thanked, stretching a little.

"No problem. You know...I've looked all over the place and I still haven't seen Haku-chan yet. I think I'll just go to Ichiraku's for a meal then find her tomorrow." Naruto told Rei of his plans for the rest of the evening.

As Naruto pulled apart the covers in the entrance way of his favourite food stand a short black haired girl bumped into him.

"Haku-chan?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

"Naruto-kun?" Haku replied back, though she didn't seem surprised, just more cautious.

"I finally found you! I've been looking for ages." Naruto said excitedly.

"You were looking for me? I'd heard you were in the village, but when I couldn't find you I thought you might not have wanted to see me right away." The black haired girl responded in a somewhat desponded voice.

"Are you kidding? I did go and visit Nii-chan first but then I went to the training grounds. I thought you might have been there since it's your day off from the hospital. Then I had a meeting with Baa-chan and the Old Man. After that we had to go to the hospital to help Sakura and Rin. From there I went to your place, weren't there, came here, weren't here either, went back to the hospital to check if your roster had changed, it hadn't. Then went to Megumi-sensei, she didn't know where you were either. I was coming here to get a meal then I would have started looking again tomorrow." Naruto said, barely stopping mid-speech for a breath.

She couldn't explain it, but Haku had the biggest grin from ear to ear. She didn't hesitate, she wrapped her arms around Naruto's midsection before giving him a bone crushing hug (Naruto swore he felt one of his ribs crack).

"I'm so glad. So do you wanna get a meal?" Haku asked after she had finally let go with a light blush adorning her cheeks.

"You don't mind? I thought you were just heading out." Naruto quizzed, slightly confused.

"I was actually looking for you. When I saw you weren't here I went to leave. I've actually been eating quite a lot of meals here. The company is better than any other place and so are the meals. If the place wasn't so simple it would easily be the most popular place to eat in Konoha." Haku informed.

The pair walked in, Naruto ordering 2 of every flavour, while ordering one seafood flavoured ramen for Haku.

"So if you weren't any of the places you normally hang out where were you?" Naruto asked, dying to know how he could search practically a whole village and still not find the person he was looking for.

"Well I was at all of those places at some point today, so we must have just missed each other a couple of times. The bulk of the last week or so I've been up on your favourite place to think." Haku told her blond companion.

"Oh? Doing some thinking yourself?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, in part. It is a really nice view up there." Haku started, Naruto nodding in agreement.

"Megumi-sensei has offered to get me a spot with Tsunade as a teacher." Haku confided in the blond. She had not told anyone else.

"That's great; Baa-chan is an awesome medic. You'll learn heaps from her." Naruto encouraged.

"It's not that simple. I want to learn from Tsunade-sama, but I don't want Megumi-sensei to feel as though I'm just using her and forgetting her." Haku groused, not wanting to seem ungrateful to a woman who was becoming almost a second mother to her.

"I don't think that she'll take offense." Naruto tried to reason.

"It's not only that. I know what Megumi-sensei is teaching me is what I want to learn. What if Tsunade-sama's teachings are not quite what I want? If I don't like it then I don't want to seem rude by backing away from her teachings, as though she was not god enough for me." Haku continued, finding more objections.

"If Baa-chan can stand me calling her an old drunk then there isn't much that you can do to irritate her." Naruto retorted. "Just try her out. Even if you and Sakura want completely different things, I think that she'd be able to help no matter what and she has Shizune, who thinking about it is a lot more like you than I initially thought." Naruto offered.

Haku looked as though she was seriously considering what the boy had said.

"Besides, I've been having the same thoughts recently. I want to see if Ero-sennin will train me full time. I don't want to have stop training with the rest of the gang, but there are things that I can do only if I'm trained by Jiraiya." Naruto confided.

"Like what?" Haku asked.

Naruto looked at her for one long moment before deciding to respond.

"My current sensei in swordsmanship does not live in the village. I need to be able to travel to complete my studies with him." Naruto told her one of his many reasons.

Haku saw the look of hard contemplation in Naruto's eyes before she resigned to at least meet Tsunade before she said yes or no.

"Naruto-kun...thank you, I'd better head home now; it's getting late." With that the raven haired girl stood up, peck the blond on the cheek before leaving.

Naruto still looked at like a stunned mullet even 5 minutes after the girl was gone.

Within the seal Rei was having her own internal war.

'I'm supposed to be his 'eternal companion' yet I don't really care if he picks me or not. This is one strange world, Kami.' Rei though to herself, before deciding to give the topic a rest.

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The next morning at the hospital Tsunade was preparing to extract the poison from Rin's body. Tsunade had scrubbed down, gowned up and gloves on. Rin, attached to a respirator, was already on the operating table as she walked into the theatre.

Shizune was there monitoring the girl until her sensei arrived to perform the operation.

"She's relatively stable, just waiting for you o remove the poison at your ready." Shizune reported.

"Good, then we'll start immediately." Tsunade responded, glancing at the surgical implements that were in a tray by the table.

As the poison was attacking her respiratory nerves the poison would have to be aggregated into the blood before she could do anything else. From there she would have to make an incision to allow the blood a route to escape. The incision would be simple to heal with a _shosen jutsu._

So Tsunade began the painstaking work, sending chakra into the girl's lungs, careful not to overload otherwise the she would damage the nerves faster than what the poison had.

She sensed through her chakra, keeping the level near constant the whole time, once she felt that she had all of the poison encompasses in her chakra, she slowly moved it to the girls right lung and eventually into the subclavian artery; moving the poison too hastily would simply rip more tissue than was necessary and in Rin's state there was no guarantee that she would recover.

With the poison now in one area, Tsunade was handed a scalpel on request from Shizune. She made a small incision right above the poison and into the artery itself. Blood bubbled forth, Tsunade had to work quickly. The subclavian was a vital point for a reason, the sheer volume of blood that pumped through there per minute was staggering, if she had another option she would have used that instead what she had done, but the subclavian was the most convenient.

With the blood, Tsunade managed to manipulate the flow of the poison with her chakra, it slowly rose into the air, Shizune placed a bowl right under it, once Tsunade let her control slip the black liquid sloshed into the bowl. Setting the bowl aside as soon as the poison was in it, both women went about fixing the hole in one of Rin's vital points. Within minutes the hole had closed over. The whole procedure had taken no more than 30 minutes at best, but Tsunade still felt slightly drained from maintaining such concentration.

"Keep that sample. I want to look at it later; the poison from _dokugiri_ shouldn't act like that." Tsunade ordered, Shizune giving a sharp nod, bottling and stoppering the poison.

A few nurses bustled into the room to assist in moving Rin back to her room to recover. Tsunade walked out of the room to some face to face with an expectant Yugito Nii.

"She'll be fine, she just needs to rest." Tsunade told the Kumo jounin, a look of relief coming across the younger blonde's face.

"If you'll excuse me, I have another case to attend to." Tsunade offered her apologies before heading to Sakura's room.

Tsunade walked into Sakura's room to find her propped up in a chair and facing the window, she knocked twice before entering.

"Sakura-san, have you given any more thought to what we talked about?" Tsunade ventured.

"Yes, but I'm still not completely sure. I want to be a ninja again, I want to continue as a field medic, but if the operation goes wrong, I don't want to be depending on someone else for the rest of my life." Sakura confided.

"It is a hard decision, take your time, your condition won't deteriorate." Tsunade advised, trying to help the girl make the best decision for her.

Without anything further to complete at the hospital and nothing that required her immediate attention as the kage (though yet to be officially instated), Tsunade left Sakura and retreated to the Hokage's persona library. There she looked for hours for a solution to Sakura's problem, or at least a method that would reduce the risk. She studied till late into the night.

At some point Tsunade remembered the reason that she was back in this village; Naruto.

'Too bad she doesn't have his regenerative abilities.' Tsunade thought to herself. 'Regenerative...Kabuto!' She thought. It was as though that cartoon light bulb had gone off in her head. Instead of using just her own chakra to force the chakra obstructions out of Sakura's nerves, she could use the regenerative chakra that Kabuto used to heal himself.

This way if there was any damage done, it would be rapidly repaired, there was still a risk, but it would be a 60 to 70 percent chance that the operation would succeed.

Happy with the revelation, Tsunade opted to get a nights rest before she told Sakura

***********************************************************************************************************

"I have good news." Tsunade told Sakura brightly. "I can increase the odds on the operation by 10 to 20 percent." She informed the pink haired girl.

Sakura looked at her for a full moment before responding.

"Before I say anything, I want my teammates here." Sakura said; a hint of sadness behind her voice.

Tsunade looked at her before sending one of the ever present ANBU after Naruto and Sasuke. It wasn't five minutes before both boys appeared in the room, both slightly disoriented after being shunshined there by the ANBU.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked

"Tsunade-sama said that she can improve the odds on the operation." Sakura informed.

"That's great; I told you Baa-chan was awesome." Naruto cheered.

"So you're going to do the operation?" Sasuke tried to confirm.

"Only on one condition, that you two help me after the operation." Sakura said, not trying to give away her thoughts.

"You bet; we'll d anything you ask." Naruto offered.

"Anything at all? Would you swear that on your nindo?" Sakura tested.

"S...sure...you know me Sakura." Naruto faltered slightly. Sakura looked at him sceptically before continuing.

"If this operation goes wrong, I won't be able to move for the rest of my life. If that happens, Naruto, Sasuke; I want you to kill me." Sakura stated with a straight face.

"Wha...SAKURA!?!...WHAT THE HELL...I REF..." Naruto roared, only to be cut off by Sakura.

"You swore on your nindo. Help me, or break your nindo." Sakura said solemnly, not giving any ground.

"Sakura, you can't really expect us to do that can you?" Sasuke tried to reason.

"I can and you will. I don't want to burden someone like that." Sakura said desperately. "My parents are aging; they can't look after me all my life, I can't ask anyone else to look after me."

"What about if you didn't have the operation?" Sasuke asked.

"I would get normal movement back over many years, but never be a kunoichi again." Sakura responded.

"Then why not go for that?" Naruto asked.

"Would you...could you go to a civilian life, Naruto? How about you Sasuke? Could you just quit now?" Sakura fired back.

Naruto looked at her very hard for a long time, before giving the slightest of nods. Sasuke looked at him with incredulity before looking at the resolve in both Naruto and Sakura's eyes and agreed. He would support them both.

Naruto turned on his heel and walked out without another word. Sasuke walked out after a quick glance back.

"I'm a horrible person." Sakura said to herself dismally after the two boys had left.

"No, this is exactly what he needs." Tsunade assured.

"What?" Sakura replied, stunned.

"He needs to understand that there are consequences to actions, or in his case, words. This is a pretty extreme example, but he's going to have to realise that he can't just go around making promises that he can't or doesn't want to keep. He'll grow from this. And don't worry; I'm going to do my best to prevent him from needing to fulfil that promise." Tsunade explained.

"In any case, well do the operation tomorrow. Don't get too hard on yourself; it'll all be fine." Tsunade offered before leaving the girl to her peace.

***********************************************************************************************************

In a training field on the outskirts of the city, Naruto had all but destroyed several training posts and was now starting on a fourth.

"So this is where you are." Kakashi's voice rang through the area. "Just blowing off steam?" He ventured.

"I made a stupid promise. I promised Sakura on my nindo that I'd help her with whatever she asked after her surgery. She asked me to kill her, Sasuke too." Naruto said, Kakashi could hear the pain in his voice.

"Well, there is something to be learned in all this." Kakashi offered.

"Aniki, I just promised I'd kill my friend; what could we have learned." Naruto growled.

"My actions killed my own teammate, I learnt from that. You can do the same, potentially without having to pay the same price, she could still survive." Kakashi fired back.

"Fine. What then? Not to open my mouth?" Naruto said almost sarcastically.

"Yes exactly that. Don't say something that you can't or won't back up." Kakashi said heatedly.

Naruto looked at him for a second before giving in.

"Fine, but it still doesn't make it any better, in fact I almost feel worse." Naruto ceded.

"That's fine as long as you understand. Now, you were beating up on a post. Would you like something that fight's back?" Kakashi offered.

"Yeah, that'd be good." Naruto accepted, readying himself.

The two sparred for the rest of the day, only stoping in the evening when Naruto had finally run out of energy and collapsed.

'Bout time. He's going to be a true stamina freak when he's older.' Kakashi thought, picking the boy up and carrying him home

***********************************************************************************************************

The next morning Tsunade was at the hospital, talking to Sakura and her parents about the operation, the length of time it should take as well as a very basic breakdown of what was going to happen for Sakura's parents (Sakura was given a slightly more technical explanation owing to her training as a medic).

With the operation room prepared, Sakura was wheeled in alongside Tsunade, Shizune and Hitomi, a member of the Hyuuga clan trained in iryou-jutsu.

"Right, may as well get started." Tsunade announced.

She gently took one of Sakura's arms and started to force in a steady but minute amount of the healing chakra that Kabuto had used in her fight with him.

"That looks about right, Tsunade-sama." Hitomi guided.

"Ease off a bit. Without the chakra obstruction to provide as much resistance you run the risk of damaging the nerve." Hitomi offered, her Byakugan active and carefully watching the proceedings, Shizune was monitoring Sakura's general condition and was ready to step in with a _shosen no jutsu_ should it be required.

With one last push a small vapour of blue chakra appeared out of Sakura's tenketsu, followed by a similar vapour of Tsunade's green medical chakra.

With Sakura's right elbow cleared, Tsunade move on to her left, the procedure being exactly the same. It wasn't until they reached Sakura's left leg that they encountered a snag.

"Tsunade-sama, her left leg, the obstruction...it's not in the synaptic gap...it's within the nerve itself." The Hyuuga medic reported, slightly worried.

Tsunade frowned before making her decision.

"We'll continue as planned." She announced.

Both Shizune and Hitomi nodded in understanding. Painstakingly, Tsunade forced chakra into the nerve itself, listening to Hitomi's every word about the level of chakra that she needed.

Suddenly Sakura's eyes flew open and started screaming in pain; it felt as though her leg was on fire.

Tsunade would have smiled had all her concentration been poured into maintaining her control over her chakra. Pain was good, particularly for a person that hadn't felt anything in that limb for little under 2 months. If there was pain getting though then that was a sure fire indication that the nerve was still functional, she just had to keep it that way until after the operation.

Unfortunately, the final obstruction was being obstinate and not moving too much.

"Shizune, start using a _shosen_, I'm going to force it right out." Tsunade ordered.

Without a second thought, Shizune activated the jutsu and concentrated it right above the left knee.

Tsunade forced through a dose of chakra that was far higher than recommended, as soon as she had Sakura stoped screaming.

"Shit!" Tsunade said, expecting to have killed the nerve.

"Don't speak too soon, Tsunade-sama. The nerve looks to be in perfect health. Maybe the pain was caused by the chakra leaving." Hitomi rationalised.

"Hmmm...neurological obs# then." Tsunade decided.

She set about testing Sakura's eye and brain function as part of normal procedure before moving the areas that she was actually concerned with. She got Sakura to squeeze her hands as well as push or pull against her hands. Passing the test for her arm function Tsunade moved to her legs.

Her right leg had a full range of motion, from wiggling toes and feet to lifting, contracting and extending. The left leg had the same test performed, but the results were not optimal.

She could do practically everything, but it was far weaker. Tsunade smiled, the nerve was still functional which was better than she'd dare hope for.

"Sakura, the nerve in your left leg is slightly damaged." Tsunade started, Sakura looking horrified at what might happen.

"Relax, it just means that your recovery won't be quite as fast. You should still be able to return to active duty after a course of rehab, getting the feel for your body after so long might take some time and by then, after an intensive course of shosen no jutsu, your nerves in the left leg should be healed." Tsunade reassured.

"Can you two take care of her? I need to go inform her parents as well as her teammates of what happened.

***********************************************************************************************************

"So she'll be fine?" Kakashi asked.

"She should make a full recovery over the two months or so." Tsunade confirmed.

"That's great. You're a busy person, so I'll pass the message onto Naruto and Sasuke." Kakashi offered.

"Cheers, appreciate it." Tsunade said her thanks before heading off.

***********************************************************************************************************

"Anko-sensei!" Naruto called out after spotting Kurenai and another purple hair woman whom he didn't know eating dango in at Dango Palace.

"Gaki? I've been wanting to speak to you for a while." Anko replied.

"I know. Kakashi told me why." Naruto stated, saving her from having to explain out loud in public, he could understand that it might still be a sensitive issue for her.

"Can we move somewhere more private?" Naruto asked.

"Is the forest of death tower OK?" Anko offered.

"I'm gonna go and find Nii-chan. I'll meet you there." Naruto told her.

"Kakashi? What for? Aren't we just talking?" Anko asked slightly confused, surely the boy would need to prepare beforehand.

"I can do it today if you'd like. Unless you need to do something else with your day...we can postpone if you want." Naruto offered.

"No that's fine. I'll meet you there." Anko offered. She turned around to find that both Kurenai and her purple haired friend Yugao were standing and waiting for her.

"To the tower then?" Kurenai offered.

"You're coming?" Anko asked unsure what to expect.

"Of course we've known you for how long now? This is one thing that you could easily use some support for." Yugao offered.

Anko gave a smile and all three set out for the tower at the centre of the most formidable training ground within Konoha.

***********************************************************************************************************

"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." Kakashi called to Naruto.

"Oh hey, just the person I wanted to see." Naruto returned.

"I'll go first, you'll wanna hear this." Kakashi told his younger brother. "The surgery went well. There was slight damage to Sakura's right knee, but nothing irreparable." Kakashi said with a smile, watching the awe and then the relief flood across Naruto's face.

"Now what did you want me for?" Kakashi focussed the conversation back on Naruto.

"I was wondering if you'd come with me to the tower in the forest of death. I'm gonna see if I can get rid of Anko's seal." Naruto said determinedly.

Kakashi eyed him for a second before deciding to respond.

"Get started there. I'll inform Hokage-sama and meet you there afterwards." Kakashi told him. Naruto nodded in understanding and dashed off without a backwards glance.

Naruto entered the tower, barely winded, but was a little disappointed to see his older brother there already.

"You got here first?" He said slightly disappointed.

"I am a jounin and you are still a genin, even if you are a talented genin." Kakashi reasoned.

A small cough was heard from the other side of the room, the two males looked across to see Kurenai, Yugao and Anko.

"Kakashi-sempai, it's good to see you." Yugao greeted. Kakashi simply waved and gave a friendly nod.

"So what do I need to do?" Anko asked, unsure about the procedure.

"Nothing really, just get comfortable." Naruto told her, she took his words in and sat Indian style on the floor.

"_Kuchiyose: Shizuka!" _Naruto called as he summoned the phoenix. Yugao had to cover her surprise at the boy being able to summon so early.

"What can I do for you today, Naruto?" The newly summoned phoenix asked.

"Shizuka-sama, you said to summon you if I ever had to sing the Galdr of Rebirth again." Naruto tried to jog her memory.

"I did say that, so we may as well begin." Shizuka offered.

Naruto started singing the same beautiful mournful song that he sang when fighting Gaara. Soon Shizuka joined in. Where Naruto's voice seemed to sing of pain, Shizuka's was filled with joy. The three spectators marvelled in the beauty of the song. Anko had tried to do the same, but the curse mark was causing paint to shot through her body and she was doing her best not to scream.

A purple chakra seemed to seep from the mark on her neck, dissipating into the air. With the culmination of the song Naruto and Anko passed out, Anko's neck completely clear of the mark.

Anko's two friends marvelled at the feat before picking her up and carrying her to a one of the barrack beds, Kakashi doing the same for Naruto.

***********************************************************************************************************

It was several hours before Anko woke up. Her first action was to jump out of bed and use a pair of mirrors to check the back of her neck. When she saw her neck clear, she started to shed silent tears. She was finally free from his tainted influence for good. IT was more than she could have hoped for and certainly more than she was promised by the Sandaime when she first received the mark.

Kurenai and Yugao had heard the noise in a different room and decided to investigate, when the saw her in tears they weren't sure what to make of it.

"It's gone...it's really gone...it'sgoneit'sgoneit'sgone. I...I'm so happy I'm c...crying." Anko managed to choke out through a veil of tears. Her friends were quick to embrace her and share her joy.

It was another full hour before Naruto woke up. Apparently Shizuka was right in saying that having someone to sing with made it easier.

When he came to he was looking up at his older brother and the several jounin kunoichi that he had come to the tower with.

"Thank you... thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Anko repeated over and over, crushing Naruto into her chest as she hugged him.

"Anko, as much as I'm sure that my tout is enjoying himself, you may want to stop that unless you want to end up and an icicle." Kakashi advised with a sly grin.

"What?" Anko asked confused.

"I don't think that Haku would like hearing about this." Kakashi explained better.

"Aniki...Haku and I aren't...were not..."

Kakashi burst out into gales of laughter; it was the one area that he knew was a sure fire way to fluster Naruto.

The group waited another hour for Naruto and Anko to recover before they decided that it was about time to head back.

The day was resumed as normal, minus the intense training that the rest o the rookie genin had. Naruto was given the day of, though he was told to expect double the load over the next few weeks after missing out from being unconscious after fighting Gaara, then going with Jiraiya and then today as well. The mere thought made Naruto groan.

***********************************************************************************************************

**Somewhere in Rice Country**

"Kabuto, I think the time is right to put our plans into motion." Orochimaru told his most faithful follower.

"The preparations are complete. We just need you word to commence." Kabuto reported.

"Then go. I will have him, I will not be denied." Orochimaru grinned sadistically as he thought about all the plans he had for one Konoha genin.

***********************************************************************************************************

**End Chapter**

*The gap in between nerves is called the synapse or the synaptic gap.

#Neurological obs (or observations) are done by nurses and doctors to assess the mental and physical capacity of a patient.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. My ISP cancelled my internet because they got us confused with a different family of Smiths that hadn't paid their bill yet. I'm probably not gonna update too soon...I have uni exams coming up.


	17. Chapter 17

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 16**

Right sorry about the long delay between updates, life's been really messy recently. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

Again thanks to those that reviewed. I seemed to get more reviews this time around on how to actually improve my writing which was greatly appreciated…to those that did make suggestions, please bear with me…you may not see an immediate improvement as old habits can be hard to kick.

In any case the next chapter is here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

It had been a month since Naruto had returned to the village with Tsunade to be the new Hokage. In that time many changes occurred. Sakura was well into the recovery phase of her stint in hospital, moving along rather well in terms of her rehabilitation. Yugito and her student Rin had left the village to return to Kumo. Konoha as a village had, for the most part, moved past their grief over their lost loved ones in the recent sand and sound invasion.

In all the chaos Tsunade still had to take recommendations for promotion to chuunin after the exams. While there were several candidates from the exams that were considered, only Shikamaru was promoted in the end, based almost solely on his tactical prowess.

The rookie twelve were kept on their toes by a constant stream of missions and training sessions whenever their senseis had the time. The jounin sensei themselves were pretty well strung out with missions, leaving little time for them to train the genin.

One of the biggest changes and perhaps the greatest morale booster was the instatement of Tsunade as the Hokage. Sarutobi had officially resigned for the second time handing the reigns to his only female pupil. The Konoha population had accepted her with open arms; she was the closest thing that the village had to royalty.

Her first act as the Hokage was to open out a section within the ninja academy to train those with a specific interest in medical ninjutsu as well as fast track those with promising skills so their abilities would not be squandered.

* * *

"Man, that's another one done. They just keep streaming in." Naruto sounded slightly relieved as he reached the Konoha gates.

"I know what you mean and Konoha can't turn back missions otherwise we'll seem weak to the other nations and then they might attack." Misao replied, she had been assigned the mission with them just to make a round team of three while her teammates took some time out to train.

Many genin teams had been given C rank missions as team missions without a jounin sensei. It was now recognised that it was more important to keep the flow of money through the village so individual genin were now allowed to take D rank missions. This was an opportunity that Naruto pounced on in an instant. Many hated the pointlessness of a D rank, so Naruto, now being able to take missions individually took care of practically all D rank missions within the village. In doing so he managed to make a rather neat some of money for himself each day.

Naruto and Misao along with Sasuke made their way to the Hokage tower and gave the mission report to Tsunade, there wasn't anything to fuss about; simply some escaped cattle. The only reason the thing got classed as a C rank was because the mission was outside of the village.

"You two coming to Ichiraku's? My treat." Naruto offered; he was doing rather well at the moment from the ridiculous amount of D ranks he could take care of each day.

"Sure why not." Misao accepted while Sasuke simply nodded.

After having arrived at the ramen stand the three made small talk.

"It's so boring at home. The house feels so empty when Aniki isn't at home." Naruto complained, he was simply glad for the company. Kakashi was out on missions.

"I know what you mean. It just doesn't feel right without any of our sensei around. Anko-sensei and Kurenai-sensei are on a joint mission, Asuma-sensei is responding to a request from the fire temple, Gai-sensei and his team are on a B rank and God only knows what Kakashi sensei is up to." Sasuke recalled all their senseis current assignments.

"Nii-chan has taken up some of the slack in ANBU; he's doing some of their missions now." Naruto informed, Sasuke understanding that Naruto must be worried, he remembered his mother's worry every time his brother went out on an ANBU mission.

"What do you have planned for the rest of the day? Naruto asked.

"I'm gonna visit my folks today…I haven't seen them in ages." Misao was the first to respond.

""I'm visiting Sakura. You coming or should I tell her you said hi'?" Sasuke offered, Naruto accepting the offer with a short nod of his head as he ate from his bowl.

"Tell her I said 'hi'. I think I'll head home. I really can't be bothered doing anything else right about now." Naruto answered, before finishing the ramen in front of him in a blink.

The three got up from their seats and went their separate ways, Naruto and Misao heading in opposite directions while Sasuke went with Misao a short way before breaking away to go to the hospital.

Naruto entered an empty house and crashed on his couch. The next time he would be roused from his slumber it would be the result of a usually lazy Nara banging urgently on his front door.

* * *

Sasuke said a quick good bye to Misao as he peeled away and headed down the main street that Misao was crossing as he moved towards the hospital.

He made his way through the hospital with practiced ease. Between his own stay within the hospital, Sakura's extended stay that was coming to an end and the numerous times that he had been here before for both family and friends, so long as he was given a room number he could find the room without a nurse to guide him.

He entered Sakura's room after knocking on the door and heard a quiet 'come in'. He found Sakura just standing in the corner of the room, apparently not doing too much.

"Errr…what's going on?" Sasuke asked, not sure what to make of the girl apparently standing around doing nothing.

"You try not being able to move around for a whole two months; it's a nightmare. The first thing I do is go for a run around Konoha. It's funny but I've actually missed those gruelling training sessions." Sakura confided. "So what brings you here?" She asked, surprised to see him particularly knowing he had been doing missions flat out since the invasion.

"I figured that with us being flat out that the only people that you really see are the nurses around here and occasionally your parents." Sasuke offered.

She nodded, confirming that he was pretty much on the money.

"Naruto says 'hi' by the way. Funny to say but he's probably the most tired out of all the genin. He's been using his kage bunshin to take all the D ranks. That way all the other genin are free to take C ranks freeing up so many more chuunin to do B ranks and then the jounin are left with the A and S rank missions. It's almost as if he's single-handedly fuelling our economy by keeping the mission flow up." Sasuke informed.

"Trust him to manage the impossible." Sakura said with grin about her face.

Sasuke and Sakura talked for about a half an hour more before a nurse came in and asked Sasuke to leave.

* * *

Sasuke had left the hospital at the nurse's request and was currently walking home, deciding to take a short cut through the training grounds and past the Hyuuga mansion rather than taking a circuitous route through the city. His movement through the training grounds came to a sudden halt as he heard the distinct sound of a kunai whistling through the air.

The kunai sailed harmlessly in front of him as he turned to see the thrower.

"Sasuke Uchiha, please come with us." A pale boy with silver hair calmly requested.

Sasuke immediately threw up a guard, though he was out numbered, there were three boys all with the first; all four slightly older than he was.

"No use Kimimaro-san. It seems that he thinks that he has a chance against all four of us." A large boy said as he prepared to meet Sasuke in battle.

"Hold, Jirobo. I want to get out of here unnoticed. You're techniques will attract attention for sure." The boy identified as Kimimaro ordered.

Jirobo didn't say anything, but he visibly relaxed. Unfortunately for the four that were present, Sasuke heard what was said.

"_Katon: gokakyu no jutsu!"_ He yelled as a giant fireball erupted from his mouth.

The four targets scattered, but the ground work was set. He had used a fire jutsu that was like a beacon in the night sky.

"_Fuuton: daitoppa!"_ Sasuke uttered as he added fuel to the fire, fanning the flames and making them burn more intensely. The trees were starting to catch fire and within such close proximity to the Hyuuga compound he could only pray that he could hold these four off till someone came to investigate.

No sooner than he had executed the jutsu a boy with multiple arms came at him with a furious barrage. Even with his sharingan activated Sasuke had a difficult time predicting and evading all the movements. Slowly he was taking more and more damage until he managed to perform a substitution.

With the substitution complete he didn't bother trying to fight, he ran as fast as he could in the direction of the Hyuuga compound.

He could see the wall of the compound in sight, but a mere sixty meters away his progress was halted again by his pursuant.

In a split second Sasuke had made his decision.

"_Katon_: _gokakyu no jutsu!" _He called, hoping that there was no one on the other side of the wall. The wall where the fireball was struck was obliterated. Sasuke had enough time to inspect the damage before he felt an insanely powerful fist to his temple. The punch was strong enough to send Sasuke unconscious.

"Good work Jirobo, you too Kidomaru." Kimimaro praised. "Put him in the barrel. He might not put up such a fight when he feels the power that Orochimaru-sama can provide after the seal has been fully awakened." Kimimaro ordered.

The last member of the group moved to comply with his instruction, but was a little surprised with what he saw.

"Kimimaro we might have a problem. I think we have the wrong kid." The final member spoke up.

"Explain, Sakon." Kimimaro barked.

"There isn't a curse seal on his neck." Sakon replied, baring the boy's neck.

"No that's him. He must have somehow had it removed. Orochimaru-sama won't be impressed. Either way put him in the barrel. If he escapes then we can just use your brother's parasitic tendencies to control him. Quickly, I can hear people coming." Kimimaro ordered.

His orders fulfilled the four left with an unconscious Sasuke in the barrel, though only the containment seals on the barrel were active. Unfortunately for the four assailants, Sasuke's effort in attracting attention had not been wasted. Observing from a safe distance was Neji Hyuuga. While he wasn't close enough to hear the conversation or get a detailed description of the combatants, he was certain that one was Sasuke Uchiha while the others were not of Konoha.

Wasting little time after the group had fled with Sasuke in what appeared to be a barrel with seals adorning its surface, Neji ran at a dead sprint to the Hokage's office.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

Shikamaru was reporting to the Hokage as per a normal mission when shouting was heard just outside the door.

"Neji Hyuuga you cannot simply barge into the Hokage's office unannounced and without an appointment." The secretary yelled as Neji demanded to be let through.

"From my understanding, Naruto Uzumaki is allowed through to the office both in the reign of the Sandaime and now the new Godaime." Neji retorted as he made for the door.

"He is granted certain liberties. You cannot do this it will look bad for the Hyuuga clan." The secretary responded growing steadily more frustrated.

"Then appearances be damned." Neji retorted hotly as he turned the handle to the door and entered the office.

He entered to see Shikamaru reporting to Tsunade.

"Neji Hyuuga there had better be a damn good reason for the ruckus outside as well as this interruption." Tsunade said sternly, not bothering with a greeting.

"Sasuke Uchiha has been abducted by four enemy ninja. They are fleeing; at least sighting they were headed north." Neji reeled off, not bothering to pause or beat around the bush; time was too valuable right now.

Tsunade's expression went from annoyed to business in a heartbeat.

"We'll have to send a retrieval team. Dammit, all the jounin are currently on missions or are recovering from a major mission." She thought out loud.

"Shikamaru, you well rested after your mission? It was only scroll retrieval after all." Tsunade directed at the only present chuunin. He gave a sharp nod in response before she continued.

"Well then you are in charge. You will need to select team members and go after the four abductors. Currently only a handful of genin and chuunin are available. Here is a rost…" Tsunade gave her orders, but was cut off towards the end.

"The rosters are unnecessary, Hokage-sama. I already know who I would like." Without bothering to excuse himself from his superior he turned to Neji.

"Go get your teammate, Rock Lee. After that go and get Kiba from the Inuzuka compound. I'm getting Naruto and Chouji. Get everyone to meet at the gates to leave an hour from now." Shikamaru ordered.

He had only given an hour, two or three hours could easily be spent on preparing for a mission, but time was of the essence, spending too long on preparations would mean that their quarry would escape.

Both boys whisked away, preparing to carry out their tasks.

Tsunade heard the preparations and the teams and made her own preparations.

"_Kuchiyose!" _A small slug appeared on her shoulder. "Go and find Shizune, Megumi and Haku. Tell them to meet me urgently at the hospital where they will receive further instructions."

"As you wish Milady. The slug bowed before dispelling."

* * *

"Yeah, yeah…I'm coming. Shikamaru what the hell d…" Naruto growled only to be cut off by Shikamaru.

"No time. Sasuke has been abducted by four unknown ninja. Prepare for an A rank mission and meet the rest of the team at the front gate in one hour." Shikamaru passed on the info before disappearing to get Chouji before finally making his own preparations.

From the moment that Naruto heard Shikamaru's tone he immediately woke up and realised that this was purely business. After hearing the mission basics he was practically walking away from the chuunin while he was still talking about the rendezvous point.

* * *

One hour later all of the ninja requested were present.

"So the basics are that our friend and comrade has been abducted by ninjas of unknown affiliation. Their skills are unknown, though it is possible that they are jounin level. We travel single file, Kiba on point for tracking purposes, me second, Chouji third, Naruto fourth, Lee fifth and Neji at the back for surveillance." Shikamaru gave his instructions. Seeing that they were understood he gave one last command. "Move out."

The travelling was smooth and uneventful. Their quarry had decided to put more effort into putting distance between them and Konoha rather than setting traps that me or may not be sprung.

"We're getting closer. Their scent is slowly getting stronger." Kiba whispered to Shikamaru, who then relayed the information to the group through hand signals.

Kiba suddenly stopped abruptly.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"The scent splits into two groups, but more than that. There are two more scents. Three went that way," Kiba replied, motioning to the northwest, "and three went that way." He finished, motioning to the north east.

"They must have split up because they realised that we're following. So either the Land of Grass or the Land of Rice." Shikamaru surmised.

"We're splitting up" Shikamaru announced after a moment's consideration. "Kiba, Lee and I will take the northwest route to Grass. Neji, Naruto and Chouji will take the northeast route to Rice." Shikamaru gave his orders.

The two three man teams decided, they turned to leave in their respective directions before Shikamaru spoke again.

"One last order, I don't care what other orders you may ignore from me, but you will listen to this one. LIVE!" Shikamaru called to his teammates. Each team member showed that they had heard in their own way. Kiba and Neji smirked; Lee gave the thumbs up while Naruto and Chouji both saluted.

With those final words the two teams disappeared into the forest.

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

"So you all have your orders. Shizune and Haku will act as field medics. Again Haku, I'm sorry. I know that you're a civilian, but I'm really stretched right now." Tsunade confirmed.

"It's fine Hokage-sama." Haku assured.

"And Megumi, you and I will prepare six treatment rooms. I don't wanna have to waste time with cleaning out different rooms and making any one of those boys wait when they may need treatment ASAP." Tsunade told Megumi.

"Hai I'll get started right away." She confirmed before leaving.

* * *

**With Naruto's team**

They certainly haven't bothered hiding their tracks." Neji said as he observed the obvious path that sound ninja had left.

"It's almost as though they want us to follow." Chouji analysed.

"Well not like we would have stopped if they wanted us to. They may as well save us some time." Naruto called to the others with a slight grin.

Suddenly Neji came to a stop without any warning.

"They're in a clearing little over one hundred metres away and they've got the coffin that Sasuke is in." He said to his teammates

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked.

Neji looked thoughtful for a second before making his decision.

"Chouji, use you're human boulder technique to clear a path. With any luck you might take one of them out. After that Naruto can use his clones to both keep the three busy for a second while the original grabs the coffin. I'm going to be back up." Neji gave the plan.

* * *

"Those idiots think that we haven't noticed them." Jirobo said to Kidomaru and Kimimaro.

"Looks like they are making their move." Kidomaru said.

No sooner had the words left his mouth; Chouji came crashing through the undergrowth in his boulder form, charging straight at the coffin that Sasuke was in. Jirobo moved right into the line of attack and just smirked before bracing himself.

Chouji slammed into Jirobo full force, only to find that he was now spinning on the spot. Jirobo lifted Chouji up and threw him at Naruto who was following closely with his eyes on the coffin. He took the full brunt of Chouji being thrown at him and at the same time the boulder sized boy took out a large number of the clones that Naruto had created. Any clones that remained were taken down by a quick follow up from Jirobo as Neji couldn't hold off both Kidomaru and Kimimaro at the same time. He was tossed to the floor like a ragdoll to accompany Chouji and Naruto.

"Doton:_ Doryu Dango!_" Jirobo called, a large earth dome formed around the three, imprisoning them.

"That was almost too easy." Kidomaru laughed, "Just a bunch of stupid genin." He crowed.

"Enough chatter. Let's get moving." Kimimaro ordered as he picked up the barrel. "I trust that you can finish them off?" Kimimaro directed at Jirobo.

"Yeah, go on. I'll catch up to you guys when I've had a good meal." Jirobo answered.

Inside the dome Naruto and Chouji had both just tried breaking out of the dome with little effect; the earth walls simply restored themselves after any damage.

"There's more to this dome than meets the eye." Neji analysed.

"No kidding, it heals itself." Naruto replied, somewhat frustrated.

"More than that, you and Chouji may not feel it because of your large reserves, but it's slowly draining our chakra." Neji said after confirming with his Byakugan.

"Your chakra is making a lovely meal. I should thank you." They heard Jirobo's voice from out of the dome.

"So he's absorbing our chakra." Naruto said out aloud, while thinking about his next move. He turned to Neji and Chouji, face completely serious.

"I'm gonna make him sick. If you have any questions, ask me after. Don't talk about this with anyone other than the Hokage, got it?" Naruto told them and didn't do anything till they had given him their word.

After getting their word Naruto contacted his favourite fox.

'Rei-chan?' He called into the depths of his mind.

'_Here as always, Naruto-kun.'_ Rei responded.

'I need your chakra. If this guy is absorbing our chakra then I'm going to give him a real treat.' He told her.

Rei grinned to herself before letting her chakra flow out into his own supply.

In the real world Naruto started glowing red with chakra. As soon as it materialised it flowed straight into the walls of the earth dome. Neji and Chouji both had a look of wonder in their faces but realised that now was not the time to ask questions.

Mere moments later they heard a blood curdling scream from Jirobo.

The walls of the earth prison collapsed as Jirobo lost control of his jutsu. Freed from the dome the trio looked to see Jirobo holding his neck with a livid look on his face.

"What did you do? My seal hasn't hurt like that since I got it. NOW WHAT DID YOU DO?" He demanded.

"I have an ability to partially destroy the seal with my chakra." Naruto said to Jirobo.

"Well the job isn't done. I can still feel some of the seals power. I don't think I'll even need to go second state to defeat you." Jirobo growled as he pulled himself out of the dust. "Your leader was an idiot to separate you. You guys aren't a match for any one of us six on one, let alone three on one." Jirobo taunted

"Say that again, I dare you." Chouji tested.

"What? That you leader was incompetent? That he was a total nincompoop? Sure, you're leader is an idiot, it must be painful knowing that he lead you to your deaths." Jirobo taunted again, noticing that Chouji was steadily getting more and more angry.

"You guys go on ahead. I've got a score to settle with this guy." Chouji said to his teammates. Naruto and Neji gave him an appraising look before nodding and heading out. Before they left Naruto left Chouji with a message.

"Chouji, remember Shikamaru's last order? Make sure you obey it to the word. You understand?" Naruto called before joining Neji in pursuit of Kimimaro and Kidomaru.

'To the word eh? Makes it pretty easy when there was only one word to begin with.' Chouji thought to himself as he prepared himself for battle against Jirobo.

* * *

**With Shikamaru's group**

"The scent of blood is coming from up ahead. It looks like there was a battle up ahead." Kiba said to both Lee and Shikamaru.

"We'll check it out. If it's who we're after then they might be tired if they haven't already been taken out."

A few second more travel and the three man squad came across the battle field. Two of the sound ninja were panting while leaning against a tree. The third was busy healing them; all three recognised him as Kabuto from the Chuunin exams.

"That's Kabuto." Kiba growled. "So he's teamed up with Orochimaru after all." Kiba concluded.

"What do you mean after all?" Shikamaru asked.

"He reeks of snakes. I thought that he may have just been in contact with Anko a fair amount of the time, but it seems that he's in league with Orochimaru." Kiba explained.

"Right. It doesn't matter. It just means one more person to take out. Here's what we're gonna do. You two are gonna pepper the area with kunai and exploding tags. If that doesn't happen to take them out then I'll be able to use by _kage mane no jutsu. _If I get that then I'll be able to use the new jutsu my dad taught me." Shikamaru gave the plan.

Kabuto was frustrated with his two teammates.

"You two really should be more cautious. It's not every day that you have someone like me to patch you up after a battle." Kabuto admonished.

"Shut up cock puppet and do your job." The girl of the group barked at Kabuto.

"Such language Tayuya. It really isn't becoming of such a fine young lady." Kabuto taunted.

"Another wisecrack like that and I'll let my doki shove its club up your…"

"Tayuya, that's enough. Could you just be injured quietly? Shut up for once." Sakon growled, finally losing his temper.

"What's wrong Sakon? Jealous? Don't worry I can get by puppet to do the same thing for you if you want." Tayuya retorted.

"That enough both of you." Kabuto commanded in a voice that reminded the pair exactly why he was Orochimaru's second in command.

"I don't wanna hear anything out you two till we get back to…" Kabuto cut himself off as four kunai with exploding tags attached planted into the ground around them.

Tayuya and Kabuto managed to get away properly, though Sakon, who was still having his leg healed by Kabuto didn't escape so cleanly, getting caught in the bark shrapnel of a tree that was destroyed nearby.

Kabuto made to move towards their teammate, but found he couldn't.

"_Kagemane no jutsu…_success." Shikamaru drawled as he walked out from the tree line closely followed by Kiba and Lee.

* * *

"Do you really think that Jirobo will be able to deal with all three of them? After all one of them was the one that managed to break Orochimaru's ribs." Kidomaru asked Kimimaro.

"No, I don't think he even has a chance of taking on of all three. That's why you're going to set out your spider webs." Kimimaro replied.

"I get ya." Was the only indication that Kimimaro received that his orders has been carried out.

* * *

"_Bun baika no jutsu!" _Chouji called as his fists grew to impossible sizes before slamming into Jirobo.

"What the hell? Where did all this power come from?" Jirobo asked astounded level of power Chouji was displaying as he bounced off the ground and through a tree after yet another pummelling from Chouji.

"The three secret pills of the Akimichi clan. The spinach pill makes me 10 times stronger than normal, more than enough to deal with you." Chouji replied.

'It also comes with a massive drawback; the pain I'm feeling from the pill is insane.' Chouji thought to himself as his stomach and chest were giving him some of the worst pains of his life.

"Any last words before I finish you?" Chouji offered as he prepared a final strike. "None? Fine? _Bubun baika no jutsu!_" Chouji attacked with both fists this time, attempting to crush his enemy.

"I'm not…NOT THROUGH YET!" Jirobo declared, roaring his defiance to the forest while activating the first stage of his curse mark, black markings appearing over his body and his sparse hair growing into a full mane.

'This feels like a fusion of stage one and two. What's going on? It has to be with what that blond brat did to my mark.' Jirobo thought to himself

Chouji's fists were stopped midstrike by an enraged and curse mark empowered Jirobo. Jirobo took Chouji by his enlarged arms and picked him up, swinging him through the surrounding trees before letting him go and smashing him into a nearby boulder.

Chouji came out from the boulder panting and clutching his stomach.

'Dammit, the effect of the spinach pill is wearing off, along with that the pill's after effects are really starting to kick in. I really don't wanna have to use any more pills.' Chouji thought desperately.

"Let's see how you like this." Chouji called to Jirobo as he pulled some spiked chains around himself. "_Ninkudan hari sensha!"_ Chouji cried as his body expanded. The technique was similar to his standard ninkudan sensha, but the kunai acted like spikes, meaning that his traction with the ground was better; allowing for greater manoeuvrability and greater speed.

Jirobo met the attack head on; he tried to stop the attack like he had done the first time, but instead of stopping Chouji dead like he did last time the human juggernaut kept on spinning. The kunai dug into Jirobo's arms and legs, but he paid it no mind, he was slowly reducing the spinning speed of the great ball before him.

"Still not strong enough. Maybe that's why your leader sacrificed you after all. Because he realised that you were holding the team back. Takes a cold and ruthless man to make decisions like that. Easily the kind of guy that would betray his village if his life depended on it." Jirobo taunted. In a few seconds this idiot would be completely stopped and as his mercy.

"Shika…SHIUKAMARU IS NOT LIKE THAT. You can say anything you want about me, anything at all, but insult my friends and you'll pay with your life." Chouji screamed, though the sound was slightly muffled from his tank form.

"What you gonna do, fart on me, Fat ass?" Jirobo laughed cockily; then he heard a resounding crunch from deep within the ball. He didn't know it, but Chouji had just bitten into the curry pill. Chouji's chakra level exploded, all of a sudden he started spinning faster and faster, he was slowly gaining ground on Jirobo.

'Shit, where did that come from? I'm gonna wind up as mince meat if I don't go second stage.' Jirobo thought to himself frantically.

He tried to activate the next stage of his curse mark, but was rewarded with a severe burning at the location of the mark. The burning was great enough to make him lose concentration of the fight. That moment's inattention was all that Chouji needed, he felt the slight let up in pressure holding him back, it was the only invitation he needed. He span forwards, grinding and tearing at Jirobo, the kunai brutally efficient in slicing him to ribbons. Once Jirobo was down on the ground Chouji simply span on the spot, ensuring that the job was complete and leaving nothing more than minced meat where Jirobo had once stood.

"Guys I did it." Chouji said to his comrades before coughing a glob of blood.

The curry pill's after effects were making themselves known. The pills effect was to convert mass to energy. The spinach pill and the chill pill both did this at certain rates, the curry pill acting faster than the spinach pill. This final pill, the chilli pill made the conversion all in one hit, but the strain on the body is so immense that it almost guaranteed death afterwards even if the battle was one.

"The pain's so great that I can barely move. Looks like I'm gonna have to wait for someone to find me here. And if they don't…then I'm sorry for disobeying your orders Shikamaru." Chouji said to himself more than anyone, hoping that against the odds that someone would find him here.

* * *

"_Kage kubi shibari no jutsu!"_ Shikamaru uttered in barely more than a whisper. The jutsu complete shadow hands began crawling their way up the three sound ninja's bodies.

The hands eventually made their way to Kabuto, Sakon and Tayuya's necks where they proceeded to strangle the three. While the three were slowly choking to their deaths a second body emerged from Sakon while Tayuya activated her curse seal.

The second body free of the shadow strangulation jutsu charged at Shikamaru, only to be intercepted by Kiba. Tayuya, with the first stage of her curse mark activated started to struggle even harder against the jutsu. Kabuto was still struggling, though with his air supply cut off it was becoming increasingly more difficult to fight.

All the while that this was going on, Shikamaru had not lost his concentration and was intent on killing his remaining three captives, the one called Sakon was almost at his limit. Between the injuries from fighting other people as well as the damage from the exploding tags it would only be a matter of moments till it became too much for him.

Then it happened. Sakon slumped, kept up right only by Shikamaru's jutsu. With the reduced resistance Shikamaru was able to manipulate the shadow on the boy far easier and for added measure, snapped Sakon's neck.

"SAKON!" The person that had emerged from Sakon yelled to what could have been his twin. "You…you killed him. I'LL KILL YOU!" He roared at Shikamaru, activating his curse mark. He went straight from stage one directly into stage two. Charging at Shikamaru, he had only one thing on his mind…revenge.

Kiba tried to intercept again, but was batted aside like a ragdoll. The boy reached Shikamaru in the blink of an eye and before Shikamaru could move away, he was sent flying.

Both Tayuya and Kabuto were now freed. Kabuto made to follow his teammates hit with a chakra scalpel aimed at Shikamaru's neck, but was sent flying himself by a brutal round house kick from Lee.

"Enough of this crap." Tayuya announced, brining attention back to her. The leaf genin were now completely horrified by both Sakon's apparent twin and Tayuya's transformation, both having gone into the second stage of the curse mark. The twin had a single horn growing out of his head while Tayuya had several.

"Ukon, you ready? Let's take this guy down." Tayuya said to Sakon's twin.

"Just let me kill him. I want revenge." Ukon at Tayuya who was already hand signing.

Ukon was running in to attack Shikamaru once again.

"_Gatsuga!" _Came Kiba's voice as a pair of horizontal cyclones hit Ukon full force in the chest. "I'm your opponent and don't you forget it." Kiba snarled viciously at Ukon, leaving Shikamaru to deal with Tayuya.

"Fine, I'll deal with you before I slaughter your teammates." Ukon yelled starting to sound slightly crazed by this stage.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _came Tayuya's voice from the distance.

"It seems that Tayuya's stopped playing around as well." Ukon said with a smirk on his face before rushing Kiba.

He let fly with a standard one two punch; both were easily dodged by Kiba, Akamaru flying at Ukon from the side only to be swatted away.

"Akamaru!" Kiba called, worried about his familiar. Using the slight distraction was all that Ukon needed. He landed a strong upper cut to Kiba's face, sending him upwards before charging at him head first, goring Kiba on the single horn on his head and ramming into a nearby tree. When Ukon dislodged himself, Kiba slumped to the ground with Akamaru barking at him to get up again.

"Normally I live within Sakon as I'm normally too weak to be out on my own for long periods of time. I'm not even going to give you the opportunity to feel my most frightening techniques, I'm just going to kill you like you teammate killed my brother. Then I'm going to combine with him as only I can and destroy him inside out." Ukon told Kiba as he prepared his final strike.

"So your ultimate jutsu is done by combining is it? Seems were the same in that, but we destroy everything in our path." Kiba said to Ukon. "Akamaru, _dainamikku makingu!"_ Kiba called to Akamaru.

At Kiba's command Akamaru leaped into the air and started spraying urine all over Ukon.

"Is that mutt…pissing one me? I'LL KILL IT FOR THAT." Ukon roared in both frustration and disgust.

"Let's go boy." Kiba said to Akamaru. In a giant puff of smoke both Kiba and Akamaru disappeared to be replaced with a giant two headed wolf.

"_Garouga!" _The beast roared as it began spinning at ungodly speeds, the slobber coming off of the beast enough to slice through trees. Upon was still staggering around from Akamaru's urine getting in his eyes. By the time he had cleared his vision the last thing he ever saw was a vision of a giant horizontal vortex right before it tore straight through him.

The pair split into their normal forms before Kiba spoke again.

"Well boy looks like we won't be doing any more fighting, that horn looks like it might have hit my kidney." Kiba said to Akamaru before he passed out from blood loss.

* * *

**With Lee and Kabuto**

"Kabuto-san. I'm sorry, but I can't go easy on you." Lee warned Kabuto as he removed his leg weights.

Kabuto wasn't given the privilege to reply as Lee disappeared, only to reappear a moment later with a fist firmly planted in Kabuto's gut. Kabuto's eyes widened as he felt all the air forced out of his lungs from the strength of the blow. Kabuto also felt a rib break, but any damage was quickly repaired through Kabuto's expertise as a medical ninja.

"I'm going to show you why it is that Lord Orochimaru places his trust in me." Kabuto said as he activated his chakra scalpel. Kabuto had underestimated the boy, but he wouldn't do that again, Kabuto would show why he gave even the sannin trouble when he really needed to. His first move was to disable Lee. Lee suddenly found himself grounded. Kabuto had cut his Achilles tendons. However all his training with guy sensei had payed off, even the ridiculous challenges of running on his hands. Because of it his was able to ignore the pain that his tendons were causing him and move about on his hands.

Lee was quick to put distance between him and Kabuto, but that still wasn't enough. Kabuto gave chase and it wasn't until Lee had managed to flail his legs around in an attempt to deter Kabuto, did he manage to pick up a handful of sand and throw it into Kabuto's eyes.

The brief reprieve in the battle was exactly what Lee needed.

"_Kaimon: Kai!" _Lee cried as he opened the first of the eight inner gates, but he didn't stop there. "_Kyumon: Kai!"_ Lee called again, this time releasing the second gate, the gate of healing. Immediately he felt warmth flood through his body as the chakra contained within the gate of healing healed his injuries. He could feel his Achilles tendons knitting themselves to completeness again.

"A dirty trick. I thought that you and that ridiculous sensei of you were above such things." Kabuto taunted.

"Speak ill of me if you will; but…" Lee started, only to disappear in an explosion of bark chips, "never" he said reappearing to smash his knee into Kabuto's sternum, "ever" he continued, forcing his elbow straight into Kabuto's mouth, "insult Gai-sensei. That man has done more than any other alive or dead." Lee finished as he made a knife with his hand and thrust right at Kabuto's neck.

Kabuto barely managed to avoid. The result, instead of having his wind pipe severed, the boy had cut into his jugular vein. Kabuto staggered back, holding his throat where the cut was made. He took his hand away and the wound was already healed.

"I missed." Lee stated as he observed Kabuto while unwrapping his bandages. "No matter what I throw at you, you seem to recover."I'm just going to have to kill you with one technique." Lee announced to Kabuto.

Kabuto put up a guard, but was shocked when he saw that Lee had moved inside it like it wasn't there. Kabuto was being kicked steadily higher into the air by Lee. Lee appeared behind Kabuto, grabbing him and forcing them both to plummet to earth at incredible speed.

"_Omote renge!" _Lee yelled as they fell.

They crashed into the forest floor, Kabuto landing on his head, while lee let go at the last possible second.

Lee watched Kabuto as he slumped to the floor, apparently dead. After a brief moment he walked up to Kabuto to confirm by taking a pulse. When he felt none he stood again before rushing off to help his teammates.

With Lee gone Kabuto's eyes flew open.

'That was some attack. Even with me protecting myself with chakra it still almost killed me.' Kabuto lay still for a while longer healing the damage that Lee's attack had caused. With Lee thinking that he had killed him, it provided Kabuto the perfect opportunity slip away to the other team. Naruto wasn't here; after all, he was the prize that Orochimaru sought out. Sasuke was a side project, but an army of dragons all with the curse seal; that was a temptation too great for Orochimaru to resist.

* * *

"It seems that you were right. Jirobo failed to take out those Leaf genin. He only managed to take one of them out…pathetic." Kidomaru reported as he felt tugs on his spider webs.

"You know the plan. Let Naruto through. The closer we can get him to the border of Fire and Rice the easier our job will be." Kimimaro told Kidomaru.

* * *

"The trail goes cold right here. It seems that they know were following so their covering their tracks." Neji reasoned, Naruto openly growled in response.

All of a sudden globs of an unknown substance were fired from multiple directions. Two hit each of the boys supplies pouch while another two hit each of the boys feet and a fifth hitting Neji in the mouth, covering it completely.

"Welcome to the spider's lair. Don't bother struggling, that webbing is made of a special fluid from my body combined with my chakra. You couldn't break it even if you tried." Kidomaru advised as he approached the boys much like a spider would a trapped insect.

Kidomaru stopped in his tracks as he saw Neji build chakra in the tips of his fingers before slicing through all five globs of the sticky webbing on him and Naruto.

"That which is made from chakra can be destroyed by chakra." Neji told Kidomaru evenly. "Naruto go! I can take this guy" He ordered.

"Go where? You said that the trail went cold." Naruto argued.

"Remember what Shikamaru said, either Grass or Rice Country. Head to Rice." Neji reminded.

Much to both their surprise Kidomaru let Naruto past.

"Realised that you couldn't take both of us at once did you." Neji asked as he settled into a Jyuuken taijutsu stance after Naruto was gone.

"No…I had orders to let him through. You see he's the real prize that Orochimaru is after. You've just sent him to a life time of servitude for Orochimaru." Kidomaru told Neji laughing the whole time.

Neji's eyes were wide; this whole thing had been a ruse? Just to draw Naruto out.

"Now you see it. From the ridiculous amounts of missions to draw all your high level ninja out of the village, to the abduction of Sasuke. All of it was orchestrated by Orochimaru-sama, all to achieve this end game." Kidomaru explained, after all the fool couldn't tell anyone if he was dead.

Neji made to rush after Naruto, but was blocked by Kidomaru.

"Seems that you've forgotten that I'm your opponent." Kidomaru said as he moved into Neji's pathway.

"Fine, then I'll kill you then catch up with him." Neji said with a solid resolve.

"Like you could!" Kidomaru said, throwing multiple kunai with each of his six arms.

Neji dodged the kunai barrage, but wasn't quick enough to avoid or destroy the large netting that Kidomaru had woven and thrown at him.

Ha…and now that you can't use your hands for chakra or hand signs you're a sitting duck." Kidomaru bragged moving in for the final kill with a kunai in his hand.

Neji's only response was to smirk before emitting chakra from all his tenketsu, destroying his confinements.

"What?' How?" Kidomaru looked astounded.

"It's not just my hands; I can emit chakra from anywhere." Neji explained, still smirking. "And now…you're in range of my divination. _Hakke: Rokujuyon Sho!"_ Neji announced calling out the number of hits to his opponent as he went.

Neji completed the attack with one final thrust of chakra powered palm, but was amazed to see that his opponent was still standing until he saw a golden armour fall away from his opponent's body.

"Glad I got that armour out in time…that would have finished me for sure." Kidomaru said out aloud, though to nobody in particular.

'So...an armour…may as well try what I've been working on.' Neji thought to himself after observing his opponents ability.

Neji charged in to engage Kidomaru in a taijutsu battle, but it seemed that the sound ninja recognised that he was at a severe disadvantage in close quarters combat, so he threw some kunai to slow Neji down while he retreated to a safer distance.

With some distance between them Kidomaru settled to just throw kunai at Neji. He was more than surprised when Neji caught one of the kunai that he had thrown from behind and threw it right back at him. He only managed to get over his shock just in time to avoid the kunai.

"So you're one of the Hyuuga clan. That explains you're mastery over your chakra. Orochimaru told me all about the Hyuuga; from their all seeing eyes, to their reliance on only their family's taijutsu, the jyuuken. He even told me about that blind spot in those wonderful eyes of yours." Kidomaru called out to Neji.

Neji didn't bother dignifying the question with an answer. He had decided to hide behind a tree. He could see exactly where Kidomaru was, but Kidomaru couldn't see him. After his loss to Hinata through her use of techniques from outside the clan, many within the clan saw their weaknesses, Neji included. He invested time in learning other jutsu, but it was time to go back to basics. Silently he made a bunshin. He had a plan, now it was time to put it into effect.

"So he thinks that he can hide from me does he?" Kidomaru said to himself as he moved into his first stage curse mark form right into his second stage. He made himself a bow and some arrows from the special fluid in his body.

'Time to flush him out.' Kidomaru thought. "_Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_ He called, summoning a giant spider.

The bunshin Neji flew out from behind a tree, Kidomaru immediately making it the target to be destroy. Meanwhile Neji stole closer towards Kidomaru. He only stopped every once on a while to make a new bunshin. The original was still running, but in case it got destroyed he could use these other ones as backup.

Neji could now see Kidomaru, he had his back turned with and arrow nocked and waiting for Neji (or at least his bunshin) to reappear when he swivelled on the spot and fired the arrow at Neji, before nocking a second and firing that as well. Neji's eyes widened in surprise and did the first thing that came to his mind.

"_Kaiten!" _He exclaimed, expelling chakra from every tenketsu in his body. The defensive technique wasn't enough and the arrows still made it through, though on a different trajectory, piercing Neji's right lung and shoulder. He was down on the floor, panting with exertion, supporting himself with one hand while clutching the gaping hole in his chest almost completely ignoring the hole in his shoulder.

"Did you really think that I hadn't noticed you? I had spider webs everywhere; you tripped so many it was almost like a sensory overload. You're bunshin only lasted that long because I allowed it. I saw my spiders or parts of the forest go through it multiple times." Kidomaru bragged as he approached Neji.

"Y…you know….this is the second time that you've moved into…into my field of divination." Neji gasped as he suddenly got to his feet again.

"_Hakke: hyaku nijuhachi sho!" _Neji announced his jutsu. The hits war far faster and far harder than before; but with a key difference. Before, Neji had destroyed the armour with sixty four gentle hits. This time he would not use chakra until the sixty fifth blow, by then the armour would be destroyed.

Higher and higher Neji counter until he had finished his attack. Kidomaru was collapsed on a branch near the trunk of the tree they were standing on.

"I'm still alive. You didn't do a very good job of sealing my chakra." Kidomaru taunted as he struggled to regain his feet.

"You're right you're chakra is still open to you. I fried your nerves; you won't be walking for a while." Neji replied.

"Ha…for a while…all I have to do is make more of my armour and you can't hurt me, you barely have the energy to stand. By the time I've recovered you'll be dead from blood loss anyway." Kidomaru spoke, though he was struggling through the pain.

"That's fine. I made a jutsu that was specifically designed to counter such defences. I made it in case I had to fight Gaara from Suna in the Chuunin Exams. I never had the opportunity to test it out though…not till now any way." Neji said as he staggered ever closer.

He started concentrating the chakra in his palms, far more concentrated than when he had struck Sakura.

"No stay back." Kidomaru started squirming, though it was pointless, he couldn't move anywhere.

Neji prepared his strike before announcing his jutsu.

"_Obarodo sho!" _Neji uttered forcing his palm into the very centre of Kidomaru's chakra coils, forcing practically all of his chakra in to them and burning all the chakra pathways from their root. The amount of chakra in Neji's palm was so great that it passed almost completely intact through Kidomaru's hastily made armour.

With all of Kidomaru's chakra pathways destroyed, the chakra once contained within his body poured out, leaving him effectively without chakra, he died within seconds.

"Well, that's me done for this mission." Neji said to the sky as he watched several birds take flight.

* * *

**With Shikamaru**

"Enough of this crap." Tayuya growled, moving into her second state. Shikamaru was horrified by what he saw, but couldn't look away.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _She called, slamming her palm in the ground. A seal forming under her hand, in a plume of smoke three ogre-like creatures appeared.

"Meet my doki. They are going to be the instrument of your death."

The three doki began moving, it was a small twitch for each at first; then they all charged at Shikamaru. One with a club brought it down in a vertical swing. Shikamaru managed to doge that blow by leaping left, only to be caught by a shoulder rush by the doki with no arms and its head apparently backwards. Shikamaru was heading right at the third doki which head butted him straight at the ground. He couldn't avoid the head butt, but did manage to pull off a substitution jutsu before he hit the ground and get to a safe area.

'She's controlling the doki with her flute. Let's see what we have. Twelve meters of ninja wire, nine kunai and four command control paper bombs.' Shikamaru thought to himself as he made his plan.

He sat for a moment and contemplated his next moves and way she would do in retaliation. He stalked about the forest silently setting up for his plan. When he was finished, he smirked before talking to himself.

"Only one way to know if it'll work." And so he threw a kunai at Tayuya.

As predicted, she withdrew the doki with arm guards and claws on to take the hit while the one with the club was sent in swinging after Shikamaru. He evaded the monster before slapping one of his exploding tags on its back, a movement that went unnoticed by Tayuya due to the poor visibility.

The other doki came in with a shoulder charge, missing Shikamaru as he dodged and placed yet another exploding tag. Though Tayuya couldn't see it, Shikamaru was still smiling; everything was going how he had planned. Currently standing in front of Tayuya, he cut a wire that sent a kunai at her from her left, only for her doki with the claw gauntlets to block it again.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as she noticed an exploding tag attached to the kunai, she barely managed to get away before the tag exploded, destroying half of her doki. It was left with part of its head and left leg while the right side was obliterated.

Shikamaru threw another kunai to give his position away. As expected she recalled both doki to her position in a way that would form a barrier between her and Shikamaru. Only when the doki were by her side did she notice the exploding tags that Shikamaru had affixed to the backs of her doki.

"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed again dodging the only way that was left open to her. Closer to where the kunai had come from the destroyed the first doki.

In between throwing the kunai and setting off the paper bombs, Shikamaru had made it around to a tree near where he predicted Tayuya would land.

"Where the hell are you, you pansy-arse fag." She called to the forest.

"Right behind you." Shikamaru drawled. She made to turn around, but found that she couldn't. "You're caught…again." Shikamaru told her.

"Bastard." Was the only thing she could get out, she was literally seeing red she was that furious.

Shikamaru didn't care, he simply continued with his plan. As he controlled Tayuya, she felt herself take her flute in both hands, before giving a mighty wrench and snapping the instrument in half.

She was shocked; enough to come out of her second state and regress back into her first stage. The flute had been a memento of her mother. She had died defending Tayuya from Orochimaru. Orochimaru laughed and said that the weapon used to defy him would now be used to serve him. Tayuya chose to believe that it was her mother, still protecting her even in death.

Shikamaru sensed her obvious distress and used to his advantage.

"Oh…was that precious too you?" Shikamaru asked as though he was talking to a child.

"That…that belonged to my mother. That was the last thing that she left me before she died defending me from Orochimaru." Tayuya snarled, still in the first stage of the curse mark.

"Oh…worried that she's not going to be there protecting you anymore." Shikamaru continued in that same voice.

Tayuya just opened and shut her mouth, he had hit the mark. It was freakish how he did it.

"Shikamaru changed tactics; she died fighting Orochimaru, for you. She didn't want you in his service. And yet here you are helping them take another life. You've become what your own mother detested.

Tayuya actually choked on her own breath, it was becoming hard to breathe, this kid he was hitting too close to the mark every time.

"She wouldn't have wanted me to die. She would have wanted me to live." Tayuya tried to reason.

Nearby Lee was listening with a very serious look on his face. It was one thing to kill an enemy; it was another to toy with their emotions and their mind like this.

"Is that what you're going to tell your mother when you see her again? That you sacrificed so many others so that you could live?" Shikamaru probed.

"I didn't…I don't…" She tried to defend herself; it felt as though she was being battered from all sides.

"You're right. What am I talking about? You mother seemed like a good person. You're never going to be able to see her again with where you're going." Shikamaru said, talking as though she wasn't even there.

Tayuya gasped, she had reverted to her normal state. The emotional trauma was too much. She fell to the ground hugging herself and shivering.

Kaa-san I'm sorry, Kaa-san, Kaa-san…" Was all she could repeat over and over.

"That was…most unyouthful." Lee rather more seriously than usual said from behind Shikamaru, supporting a wounded Kiba on his shoulder.

"I'll do what I have to. She was one of Orochimaru's elites. She's bound to have some information on him. It'll only be easier to extract when we get home.

Right at that moment Shizune and Haku appeared behind them. Shizune walked over to Tayuya and place her into a sleep genjutsu; she wouldn't wake till the user released her.

"I'll take Kiba." Haku said, and immediately started healing his wounds.

"Haku; Lee, Shikamaru and I are gonna go ahead and try to find the others. You'll be ok here right?" Shizune asked before getting ready to head out. She only received a nod in confirmation as she was concentrating on healing Kiba. The three then set off for the place they last saw the other three.

Once there it was an easy issue of tracking down both Chouji and Neji. Chouji was conscious, but in considerable pain. Shizune said that he would live, he just needed to get back to the village ASAP, and Lee was more than happy to carry him there.

When they came across Neji they were horrified at his injuries.

"We have to get him back to Konoha. Help me." Shizune gave instructions to Shikamaru.

"We need to check on Naruto." Shikamaru argued.

"Naruto-kun will be fine." Shizune said tersely, hoping that he didn't ask too many questions.

"How can you say that? He could be…" Shikamaru protested only to be cut off by Shizune.

"I can say that because I know things about Naruto that you don't. You may be mission leader, but I'm a jounin and as such I outrank you and I'm telling you to help me transport this shinobi." Shizune barked, she may have sounded harsh, but it was necessary.

It was a quiet trip back, Shizune and Shikamaru had to move in a way that didn't aggravate Neji's injuries.

Midway through the trip home Neji regained consciousness momentarily.

"N…Naruto…you n…need to h…help N…Naruto." He said weakly.

"Don't worry about Naruto-kun. He won't be killed. He's stronger than you can imagine." Shizune soothed.

"N…Not kill, c…capture. O…Orochimaru, wants….him." He managed to finish before passing out again.

"Shizune had a look of pure horror on her face. She had sent the poor boy to a fate worse than death.

* * *

Kakashi was racing through the dense forest following Pakkun. He had spoken with the Hokage for only a few minutes. She saw him and assessed that he was fit to go so she sent him out again, giving him only the bare minimum. He was now racing to catch up with the group that was chasing after the sound group that had abducted Sasuke.

Then he made an unexpected find.

"Shizune? What's going on? Is that Neji? He's a mess." He asked, seriously worried about Gai's genin.

"Don't worry about that. You've got to get moving. Neji just told us, it's not Sasuke they're after. Orochimaru is after Naruto. He's walking straight into a trap."

He and Pakkun just resumed their search.

* * *

Naruto emerged from the forest line to see a raging waterfall with what appeared to statues of the Shodaime Hokage and Madara Uchiha standing as guardians of the waterfall.

"Welcome, Naruto-kun, to the valley of the end." Kimimaro greeted from Madara Uchiha's head.

"What does Orochimaru want with Sasuke?" Naruto demanded as he stepped onto the Shodaime's head.

"Honestly, he would like his eyes, but at the moment you're the one that interests him the most." Kimimaro informed.

"Me? Why?" Naruto very curious, this might be exactly like Jiraiya had warned

'_they will use you as breeding stock and use your abilities to destroy Konoha.' _Naruto could hear Jiraiya's voice in his head.

"That draconic transformation of yours. If Orochimaru-sama could have and army of such people, he would truly be unstoppable." Kimimaro said with a manic gleam to his eyes.

"Then if it's me you want then you can release Sasuke." Naruto demanded.

"No, he may have been the bait to have lured you here, but he still is a rather valuable asset to Orochimaru-sama." Kimimaro decline the request.

"Then I'm just going to have to take him from you." Naruto said, leaping across the waterfall and trying to punch Kimimaro.

Kimimaro dodged the strike and retaliated by striking at Naruto with a sharp bone protruding from his hand. Naruto spun out of the strike and grabbed Kimimaro's forearm before thrusting his free arm at Kimimaro's elbow in the hopes of dislocating it. Kimimaro managed to smirk as he grew another bone from his elbow, Naruto couldn't stop his hand in time so he pierced his own hand on the bone.

"Shikotsumyaku. The kekkei genkai of the Kaguya clan, now only my own ability." Kimimaro explained with an air of superiority. "I can sprout bones from anywhere. My bones are harder than even the strongest steel." Kimimaro went on, it didn't matter if the boy knew what it did; he couldn't do anything about it. Before the night was over he would be in rice country in servitude of Orochimaru-sama.

Naruto observed his hand healing, as did Kimimaro.

"So I can't use my fists to bludgeon you to death. I'll just have to slice you in two." Naruto growled as he unsealed his blade.

Seeing that the fight wasn't going to remain a taijutsu battle Kimimaro drew a blade from his shoulder. Naruto charged, using battoujutsu as an opening technique, but Kimimaro's reflexes were quick enough to avoid the blade. Instead of pressing the advantage he hung back to evaluate his opponent. It seems that he wouldn't make the same mistake that Kisame made in underestimating the blonde.

"Interesting style, it I had to guess, it revolves around being faster than your opponent." Kimimaro taunted, obviously making light of the fact that Naruto was moving slower than he was.

"You're right. Looks I'll just have to up it a bit." Naruto said, drawing chakra from his bracers and sending it into his sword, creating a fine chakra blade. This time he raced forwards before jumping into the air.

"_Ryu tsui sen!"_ Naruto cried out as he slashed down aiming for Kimimaro's left shoulder. Kimimaro back stepped the attack, but was surprised when the blade cut into him anyway.

'Chakra blade.' He thought to himself only to realise that Naruto was indeed about to bisect him as he promised.

Naruto had landed and didn't give his opponent any space; he followed the aerial vertical slice with a horizontal slash, forcing Kimimaro to jump over the attack only to perform a similar technique, except with a thrusting motion. Naruto was ready for the strike and made to counter. He leaped up into the air and twisted around the strike and made to strike at Kimimaro's unprotected back

"_Ryu kan sen tsumuji!" _He called as he twisted around the strike and made his own attack at Kimimaro's outstretched sword arm, the blow was blocked at the last possible second by a bone growing out of Kimimaro's shoulder, though the blade was steadily working its way through this as well. Kimimaro now used his positioning to spring of off Naruto and send himself to the ground while Naruto went over the cliff face and towards the water below.

As Naruto fell Kimimaro fired several of his fingertips like bullets.

"_Teshi Sendan!" _His fingertips ripping through the skin at the end of his fingers.

Naruto managed to slice two in half though the third managed to graze his shoulder, he barely even winced at the pain. Compared to the gaping hole in his hand that was slowly healing, this scratch was nothing.

Naruto plunged into the water; he remained still for a few seconds getting his bearings. When he knew up from down he created a kage bunshin before he swam to the surface and stood on the water's surface facing Kimimaro.

Naruto eyed him for a second before making his move.

"_Dou ryu sen!" _Naruto called, making an upwards slash with his sword. Kimimaro waited, but saw no attack coming his way, until the very last second. By the time he had seen the fine water blade it was too late to avoid completely, he managed to get his body out of the way, but his hand got caught, dropping off into the water severed cleanly.

"Dou ryu sen normally sends a wave of rocks and dirt at the enemy, but because water is so much more fluid and movable than earth the result was a fine water blade." Naruto explained to Kimimaro. True to his word there was a fine line in the stone behind Kimimaro where the water blade had impacted with the stone.

"It's of little consequence. I can regrow the bone and Kabuto sensei can do the rest." Kimimaro played the loss of his hand as nothing. True enough it could be replaced, but it would severely hamper his ability to fight.

Up on the cliff where Kimimaro had left the coffin with Sasuke in it, Naruto's clone looked over the seals guarding keeping the lid on the coffin. They were basic containment seals, weak on their own, but effective when more than one was used. There were currently four in use, but from what he had learned from his brief study from Jiraiya it looked as though all four had to be released simultaneously, with a direct chakra source in for each one.

'I hope I have enough chakra for this.' The clone thought as it split itself four ways. The clones looked at each other before nodding and placing one hand one a different seal. As one they released the seals.

"KAI!" the seals poofed out of existence and the lid could be removed. Sasuke was inside though still unconscious. The clone shook him awake.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked uncertainly.

"No just a clone. You need to head back to Konoha. When I dispel the boss will know that you're heading back and he'll follow." The clone told him while pointing him in the right direction. Sasuke nodded before heading off.

The clone dispelled and the original Naruto smirked.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu_!" Naruto called creating five bunshin. All five raced to Kimimaro, then when they were about half way Naruto uttered one more word.

"Katsu!" The five clones exploded, sending up a massive wall of water. Naruto then took the brief reprieve to turn tail and head to Konoha. After all. His mission was to rescue Sasuke, not to get himself captured. Sasuke was heading back to Konoha, if he caught up to him then they would have a better chance.

Naruto jumped up the cliff side with all haste before entering the forest.

"Kukuku…going somewhere Naruto-kun?" A chilling voice rang through the forest.

'Orochimaru.' Naruto thought immediately. Naruto made his decision, he was going to kill himself, hopefully he could take that freak with him when he reincarnated. He took out his sword and readied it, only for a long pink appendage to come snaking out and prevent his hands from committing the final act, struggling as he was.

"Now now. It won't be so bad, serving me. I promise you I'll look after you well." Orochimaru said in a slimy voice that made Naruto shudder.

"Now, how about we prevent you from running away? The rest of his body joined his extended tongue. "_Kanashibari no jutsu!" _Orochimaru hissed jabbing his index and middle fingers into Naruto's forehead, Naruto dropping his sword.

Orochimaru went to Kabuto and Kimimaro.

"Let's leave, before this place is swarming with leaf ninja. You can do the rest of that healing back at the base." Orochimaru ordered. The two bowed, following in his wake.

* * *

Kakashi was flying through following Pakkun the trees when he came across Sasuke.

"Sasuke? How did you get free?" Kakashi asked, worried about Naruto. If they had freed Sasuke, then had they already taken Naruto?

"Naruto's clone freed me. I think that we were at the valley of the end. It said that Naruto would catch up to me."Sasuke replied

"Shit. Sasuke head back to Konoha." Was the only response Sasuke received before Kakashi started dashing through the trees following Pakkun again.

Kakashi made it to the Valley of the End where he did a quick survey of the area before summoning the rest of his ninja hounds.

"You're looking for anything that smells of Naruto. Scatter!" Kakashi kept his instructions brief. It wasn't long before he heard one of the dogs howl.

He made his way over immediately. He didn't need to be told what the dog had found, he saw it as soon as he entered the area; Naruto's sword given to him by Hayate.

"Kakashi there's more." Pakkun told him. He had Kakashi's attention. "This place. It reeks of snakes." Pakkun told him the bad news.

Kakashi fell to his knees. Konoha's most hated enemy now had his little brother hostage.

"Sensei…I'm sorry. I got here too late…again." Kakashi said as he looked to the heavens.

* * *

Some hours later Naruto awoke to a small dark cell. There was just enough light to make out that there were seals on every surface of this cell.

"Welcome to Otogakure, Naruto-kun. Naruto heard Orochimaru's voice ring through the cell as though he were everywhere.

* * *

So Orochimaru has the Kyuubi jinchuuriki does he? Then it looks like he's given us the perfect reason to visit him, for the jinchuuriki and the ring. Deidara…Sasori…I leave this to you." The figure said through a projection.

"But the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is ours to deal with." Kisame complained.

"And Orochimaru is Sasori's old partner. I think he wants to settle the debt. And you showed us how effective you are at catching the boy the last time Kisame." The figure argued, many of the other Akatsuki members sniggering without hiding it.

* * *

**End Chapter**

Sorry once again for the delay in updates. And I'm also sorry for the way this chapter came out…for some reason I just hate it how I've written this chapter…It'll probably show in my writing…tell me if it does.

I think that the next few chapters will come easier though, considering how excited I am about writing them

Seeing as I probably won't update before, HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Cheers,  
Fish


	18. Chapter 18

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 17**

Hey all. Sorry I took so long with this update. I had planned on getting this out in the first week of new year, but the temperature here was anywhere between 30 and 35° Celcius (86-95° F) at night and 40 to 45° Celcius through the day(104-113° F). Then because of the constant heat my computer died and it's still not completely fixed.

Either way the next chapter is here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

It was a bright and sunny morning in Konoha, yet there were many within her walls that felt no reason to be happy or even smile. It had slowly filtered through the ninja community that Naruto had been abducted by Orochimaru. Naruto's friends within the rookie twelve and team Gai took the news rather hard, a few feeling personally responsible.

For all the grief that the remainder of the rookie twelve and team Gai felt, it didn't come close to surmounting the sorrow of five individuals. Kakashi felt as though he had failed everybody. He had failed his village in protecting one of its own. He had failed his sensei, who was more like a father to him. Most importantly, he had failed Naruto, something that he would never forgive himself for doing.

Jiraiya felt similarly. He had failed his student's; both of them. He had failed in his duties as a godfather and he hated himself for it.

Tsunade felt hate, a burning hated for only one thing right at this time; Orochimaru. When Kakashi had come back and reported to her what he had found, she quietly excused herself from the office leaving Kakashi alone. She shunshined to the nearest training ground and took a deep breath trying to calm herself. When she couldn't she slammed her fist into the ground, sending a quake that was felt right through Konoha.

Shizune buried herself in her work. She claimed responsibility, having told Shikamaru that he was on orders to get Neji back to Konoha and that it was her fault that they didn't give chase. Tsunade promptly pointed out that if she were there Orochimaru would have simply killed her and that she had made the best decision based on what information that she had. It still did little to relieve the crushing guilt that she felt.

Last was Haku. Haku didn't feel guilty, she didn't feel angry. If Haku actually had to describe how she felt herself she could do it with one word; empty. She felt as though she had a part of her missing. When she wasn't working she stayed in the places that reminded her most of Naruto.

Sasuke and a few of the other genin had asked to go on a mission to retrieve Naruto. They had been promptly denied by both Jiraiya and Tsunade. Misao had tried to argue, until she had accidentally uttered the words

'You don't understand. Do you even care about getting him back?'

Never had she felt an intent to kill as strong as what she felt from both sannin, it was suffocating, even Kurenai as a rookie jounin was having difficulty. When they had regained their control, Tsunade ordered Misao to leave and not present herself before she understood exactly what she had said.

The genin were left with two assurances from both sannin and Kakashi.

"He is alive." Kakashi said.

"As long as he is alive he can return to us." Jiraiya and Tsunade told them, along with a warning never to bring this up again.

* * *

True to Kakashi's words Naruto was alive. It had been almost a month after his capture and he was still cooped up in his cell. The seals on his cell absorbed any chakra aimed at them, effectively ruling out any form of jutsu. He had tried to transform into his draconic form but found he couldn't. It seemed that he could only do it in the heat of battle for the time being until he practised more with it.

He had contemplated suicide, but Rei had intervened.

_FLASHBACK_

'_OK so jutsu won't work, I don't have weapons, brute force in this form is useless and I can't transform.' Naruto said to Rei in his head._ _'One last thing to try.' Naruto said with a grim look on his face as he prepared to kill himself in an effort to burn everything around him._

'NO…DON'T!_'Rei Rei called to him from the depths of his mind._

'_Why not? Nothing else has worked.' Naruto countered._

'And if this doesn't work either? Then what? You've just revealed to Orochimaru that you can provide him a body that doesn't die from battle. He's already trying to use you to create an army of dragons. Based on his frustrations I don't think that it's working, but you don't need to provide him with a reason to take over this body.'_ Rei reasoned. Listening to her argument, Naruto realised just what evil could come from something like that and reconsidered his actions._

_FLASHBACK END_

As Rei had predicted Orochimaru was having little success in creating the army of dragons that he had envisioned.

"O…Orochimaru-sama, the n…newest batch has also…f…failed." A fearful red headed girl with a strange hair style reported. Orochimaru did little to show his frustrations, but you could see the muscles around his jaw tighten as he ground his teeth.

This was the third test group that had failed. The technique that he had used should have allowed the genetic material taken from Naruto to form and entirely new being once 'incubated', as Orochimaru had so eloquently said, within a girl for the standard nine months. Kabuto and Orochimaru's research head, the red-headed Karin, were both able to determine that once implanted into the girl, the jutsu failed, the single cell, marked with some of Orochimaru's chakra for tracking purposes, simply vanished. In a fit of rage, Orochimaru offered many of the girls that were used in the first batch as an offering to Manda; the only ones that were spared were one that had been perceived as useful, those with ninja training. Kin Tsuchi had been a part of this first batch along with a number of women from the Fuuma ninja clan.

Within this month Naruto was treated rather well, something that surprised him, he figured he was little more than a guinea pig, but Orochimaru had tried to be friendly with the boy. Naruto did not bother wasting his time with such pleasantries; he knew the man's true nature and was well aware that this facade could disappear in an instant.

The one thing that surprised Naruto more than any other was the day that he was taken out of his cell and moved to a far larger area. The seals on the cell wall contained on that put the occupant under such strain till they passed out. Once Naruto had passed out from the effect of the seal he was taken to an arena of sorts. When he came to there was a barrier around the arena. Apparently Kimimaro was unsatisfied with the results of his and Naruto's previous battle and had been imploring Orochimaru to allow this nearly the whole time after Naruto was captured.

Naruto was forced to fight Kimimaro. The fight was treated like a form of entertainment for some of Orochimaru's more willing servants. Those forced into labour simply watched on, sorry for the young ninja. The fight had been rough, Naruto not bothering to hide his transformation, nearly severing Kimimaro in two at one point with his claws and nearly devouring him at another. Naruto ended up losing the round; he was forced to fight in a non-preferred method. His taijutsu was useless against the last member of the Kaguya clan and without a sword he was at a severe disadvantage. It took Kimimaro going into the second stage of the cursed seal to win, and even then only after Naruto had reverted to his original form. Kimimaro was forbidden to kill Naruto and had to settle for beating him unconscious while he was untransformed. There was little doubt in Orochimaru's mind after seeing that performance that if he hadn't intervened at the Valley of the End and allowed Kimimaro to pursue Naruto on his own that Kimimaro would most definitely be dead by now.

When Naruto came to after the fight he found that he had been transported back to his cell with Karin treating him through the bars of his cell. The girl simply cut herself with a kunai some distance back; so that Naruto couldn't get the kunai himself, then let the blood flow, saying that her blood would heal him; that alone had sparked Naruto's interest.

"But it takes ages to heal yourself, right?" Naruto called to her retreating back. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"How could you know that?" Karin asked suspicion evident in her voice.

Naruto ignored the question and posed another of his own. "Why do you work for him?" He asked.

"Do you think that I want to?" Karin replied. "I have no choice. I don't have the power to disobey and I can't escape, he'll catch me." She relied bitterly.

"If you truly hate it that much then kill yourself, or is it that you can't." Naruto countered. Karin looked scared.

"H…how did you know t…that I can't d…die?" She asked. How did this boy know so much?

"I didn't. I could have meant that you simply couldn't commit the act. But because of what you are you considered the practical side of it, not the actual problem with doing it." Naruto responded. "Does he know? Everything about your abilities?" Naruto asked.

"Do you think I'd be allowed to keep this body if he did? And how do you know?" She whispered back.

"Takes one to know one, I guess." Naruto answered.

"How did we become like this?" Karin wondered idly.

"I know." Naruto answered quietly.

"How? She was sceptical. She had researched for ages and still nothing turned up.

"I'll tell you on one condition." Naruto said.

"That is?" Karin asked.

"Free me. Let me create enough confusion and a distraction to allow as many prisoners as possible to escape they can go to Konoha till they resume their lives. Then return to Konoha with me. I'll tell you what I know." Naruto offered.

"They'll get captured before they can get far." Kin argued.

"I can plan for that. You just have to trust me." Naruto tried to coerce.

Kin weighed her options before responding.

"Give me a month. That will give me enough time to prepare. I can say that I need to conduct more tests into why the project failed. I can let the woman know that way and they can pass on the message to the men that they know. In one month I'll come and free you."

Naruto nodded with a smile. He would get home one way or another.

"All I need is a schematic of this place and the fastest way to get to the other captives. If you can get me that we will be all set." Naruto said.

And so Karin's work began. She began telling the women she knew she could trust that there was a plan for escape. Those women then passed one the information to the men that they knew they could trust. In that time she had also given Naruto the schematic he required. She simply told Orochimaru that she was going to use him for more testing, in case the fault lay within him. The Snake sannin thought little of it and left her to work as she usually did. While she was running some tests she slipped the schematic into Naruto's clothes.

Then end of one month was coming quickly, Karin had to work tirelessly to complete her objective. While the actual task of telling individual woman took less than five minutes to explain, it would seem strange if she only took five minutes with her research, so she conducted actual research, she had a mind to falsify report, but found there wasn't a need, she couldn't find what went wrong with the process.

The month had gone by painstakingly for Karin and many others. Not only did they have to worry about exactly what it was that Naruto was going to do to help them get to Konoha alive, they all had to keep up the unhappy faces they had been wearing for so long, even in the face of brilliant news such as a mass breakout.

Karin was looking at Naruto as she prepared to open the door for his cell. She had been given a master to all the jail cells. Orochimaru had given her one when she had started working as his head scientist. The complex was filled with cells such as this one. Orochimaru prided himself on having many contingency plans, so it was likely that he would need multiple cells capable of containing powerful occupants. However, Orochimaru always had one flaw that even the Sandaime could never iron out, his under appreciation for his pawns.

Orochimaru may have been a genius, but he could never lower himself to see the value in pawns on the battlefield, nor did he ever truly appreciate the subtleties of some lower powered jutsu. Just as he had underestimated these elements, he never really placed much value on his weaker subordinates, so he never really estimated the strife that they could cause him.

"You have a plan? Even if Orochimaru allows me access to any prisoner, he still keeps tabs on who I use. As soon as this lock is opened, he'll know." Karin explained.

"Don't worry I have us covered. Well all get out of here in one piece. As soon I'm free we're heading to…"

BOOM

Naruto had been interrupted by a massive explosion and the compound shaking.

"What the hell was…" Naruto started only to see his cell door open, Karin had undone the lock.

"He might not notice this door's alarm seal going off, but even if he doesn't the first place he's likely to come is here. He'll want to secure you first at all costs. Now, you said you could get us out of here…so move it!" Karin spoke in a rush, not stopping for air.

Naruto stepped out of the cell and immediately summoned a large phoenix. He grabbed Karin and told the phoenix to fly. The phoenix took off at break neck speed, taking Naruto's directions to the letter as it flew, the entire time they could hear more explosions. The phoenix managed to cover a distance that should have been a five minute run in under a minute.

When he entered to main prison area, a room that looked as though it could have easily held Gamabunta thrice over, he saw everybody turn and look. They watched him expectantly.

'Rei-chan, I know I don't normally ask for your chakra, but I need it now, as much as you can supply.'

'_As much as possible? What are you planning?' _she asked as she prepared to overload his coils with her chakra.

'Summon the entire phoenix clan at once.' He responded without a hint of doubt in his voice.

Rei didn't bother responding, she realised that time was of the essence and simply started supplying the youkai.

Naruto felt the chakra coursing through his body and felt physically sick. It was then that he was reminded that coarse chakra was actually damaging to his body.

A second explosion ripped through the compound and all the captives could see the sky for the first time in months as it destroyed the thick roof above them.

Naruto finally felt that he had enough chakra when he performed the summoning jutsu. Never before had he released such a gargantuan amount of chakra in one go; it felt as though his very chakra coils were burning.

When he had finished the jutsu he immediately vomited, Rei's chakra taking effect on his body.

"Naruto? Why have you summoned nearly every member of the phoenix clan?" The phoenix boss asked as he stood on the ground, many of his other kinsmen flying in the air around him.

"No time to explain everything. I need you to take as many of these people as you can south to Konoha. They're prisoners. That's as much as we have time for right now." He responded.

Naruto looked at the prisoners just standing there, gawking at the feat.

"WELL, DON'T JUST STAND THERE! MOVE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE LEFT HERE." Naruto bellowed at the prisoners. Many of the ninja immediately jumped aboard a phoenix, some of the non-ninja were help aboard by their shinobi counter parts. As soon as a phoenix was carrying as many as it could it took off., the smaller of the phoenix fitting neatly through the hole in the roof, the others launched fireballs to increased its size so they could fit through more comfortably.

"I'm surprised that Orochimaru hasn't appeared yet. Maybe who ever did the bombing is keeping him busy." Karin wondered out a loud.

"Who cares, as long as he doesn't show up that's a good thing." Naruto replied in between vomits, Kin, who had found her way over after recognising him from the chuunin exams, showed her agreement by nodding.

Within three minutes every phoenix had left. When Tobifushicho left, he didn't bother making the hole in the roof larger, he simply crashed straight through it, sending rubble crashing to the ground. Eventually only two people were left; Naruto and Karin

'Rei-chan, just a little more chakra. Please.' Naruto asked Rei.

He heard no response, but felt it as he felt her chakra coursing through his body again. He performed the summoning jutsu, to come face to face with another phoenix that was roughly double Shizuka's height.

"Can you us to Konoha?" Naruto asked after he had finished vomiting again.

The phoenix nodded, but before anyone could move they were sent flying by an explosion that ripped the ground apart.

"You're not going where, yeah." A blond man dressed in a black cloak with red clouds on it said as he hovered in the room on what appeared to be a clay bird. As soon as he was in the room, the hole in the roof began closing itself over.

"That's exploding clay covering the roof, burst through that and you'll be as good as dead." To prove his point he detonated a small spider on the ground, which still provided a reasonable sized explosion.

"Akatsuki." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Got it in one. You're the one that took of Kisame's arm and half of samehada." Deidara's eyes alit with joy; as though the idea of Kisame injured was music to his ears.

"Yeah, that was me. If you don't let us past you're going to end up the same way." Naruto warned, though he knew he was at a severe disadvantage without any of his usual equipment.

"So you guys are the reason that Orochimaru isn't tailing us. Guess I have to thank you for that." Naruto offered as he prepared for a fight.

"That was Sasori-sama. He's got a vendetta against Orochimaru for leaving Akatsuki, yeah." Deidara told him.

"Well then, maybe you'd like to aid us in foiling Orochimaru. You see we escape then he won't have any more prisoners." Naruto bargained.

"Close to a deal there. I'll just kill them and capture you. Orochimaru isn't gonna be alive much longer after Sasori-sama is through with him, yeah. So his number of prisoners won't really matter." Deidara replied.

Naruto didn't bother responding, he simply threw out a jutsu after some rapid hand signing.

"_Katon: gokakyu no jutsu!"_ Naruto cried out, making sure that he kept a lid on the amount of chakra; he didn't want to accidentally hit the other three.

The phoenix wasn't idle either. It saw that his summoner was in need and so he rushed towards the flames, not needing to fear them.

Deidara managed to dodge the flames, but his retreat was met with a talon to the right shoulder, he hadn't expected the large summon to move with such speed.

Deidara howled in pain as the phoenix tore its talons free of his shoulder and wheeled around for a second pass.

Deidara was watching its movement this time and created a barrier of sorts between him and the phoenix as it started attacking.

"_Ninpo: Bakuhatsu shouheki."_ He announced as the wall appeared. Naruto knew that anything entitled exploding encampment wall couldn't be good news for his summon. He tried to warn it off its course, but it was travelling too fast to avoid. It collided with the wall full force, the wall detonated.

The phoenix was still present, though it looked battered; it was in no condition to fight; much less would it be able to carry two people to Konoha.

"It's my own variation of the _doryuheki._ One side, my side, has the normal earth wall which protects me from my exploding clay on the other side. Great for idiots who think that they can charge through any defence, yeah.' Deidara explained smugly as he watched the injured phoenix, which landed near Karin before dispelling itself.

Naruto couldn't care less, he drew some of the chakra from his bracers and raced in faster than Deidara had expected, though still not enough to catch the man off guard. He formed another wall, Naruto predicted this and jumped over it, but before he was clear, Deidara detonated the wall in front of Naruto's face.

When Deidara took down his wall all he could see was Naruto crashing amongst the rubble. Deidara didn't give the boy time to regain his feet; he sent a flock of clay swallows at Naruto. Naruto pushed off of the ground, being missed by the attacking clay and the ensuing explosion by a hair's breadth. Out of the smoke from the explosion it became apparent that not all of the birds were taken out as they pursued him further. He was forced to dodge and weave until it became necessary to jump onto a wall before he rebounded and landed near the clay that Deidara was using to prevent their escape.

"You really think I'm that stupid, yeah? You think I'd blow up the only thing keeping you here?" Deidara asked as he pushed off the ground to join Naruto upside down on the roof, engaging him in a taijutsu battle

Naruto could feel that call to go completely wild within him. The call wasn't as strong as when he was fighting Orochimaru, so he would truly have to concentrate to transform.

Deidara sent out more clay birds, Naruto spun around them as he moved to re-engage in taijutsu. The swallows didn't wheel around to continue their pursuit; they were allowed to drop to the ground as Deidara lost a use for them after he couldn't attack again for fear of blowing up the clay on the roof.

Naruto charged in and feinted with a left punch; leaving Naruto's body was slightly twisted at the hips. As he corrected himself, the actual hit came through, a brutal right elbow to the jaw. Deidara's head spun with the hit, but Naruto wasn't done, he kept on pivoting as he tried to land a round house kick aimed at Deidara's ribs, the leg was blocked and grabbed as Deidara tried to keep hold of the blond jinchuuriki's leg.

Naruto was quick to improvise as he leapt of his left leg and scoring a vicious hit to Deidara's head. Deidara was forced to let go as he was momentarily stunned. While he was still gathering his bearings Naruto showed more strength the many though he might have possessed by throwing Deidara into the exploding clay. Much to Naruto's annoyance the clay remained inert.

"You expected the clay to explode, yeah?" Deidara mocked.

"I was kinda hoping." Naruto growled back.

"The clay recognises me, so it won't explode, and it doesn't explode when you step on it coz I tell it not to and it won't react to most jutsu either. Makes sense, yeah?" Deidara explained.

It really did make sense to Naruto. It wouldn't explode with either Naruto or Deidara on the clay. Most jutsu couldn't make it explode but the swallows that Deidara made were ordered not to follow as they could blow up the clay. If the clay wouldn't explode normally, he'd make it.

This time it was Deidara's turn to go on the offensive. Naruto quickly made some clones that scattered just as Deidara was closing in. Deidara sent some clay spiders along the floor as well as some clay birds through the air. They were dispatched by a quickly formed _katon: gokakyu no jutsu._

Deidara recognised the hand seals and moved out of the line of fire, moving in once the jutsu had ended with a thrust kick to the back of Naruto's head; the kick sent him flying forwards. Deidara wasn't content to watch him fly and moved to meet him racing forwards and using his elbow into the back of Naruto's head, this time sending his face into the roof. Naruto crashed into the roof, but managed to use a hand to attach himself again so he wouldn't bounce off and crash to the floor. Naruto attached his other hand before scrunching up and uncoiling very quickly in a feet first tackle. Deidara was caught in the chest and was sent flying again.

Naruto chased while Deidara was still in flight, but Deidara was ready, just as Naruto was close enough to hit Deidara the man stopped his movement by detonating two clay birds right in Naruto's path. Naruto was forced to jump and land back on the ground. Deidara had managed to stop himself right in the middle of the clay.

While Naruto was falling the clones that he had made earlier reappeared. Each standing about a foot in from the edge of the clay on the roof.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _ Naruto called.

"Standard shadow clones and a summon. What's going through that head of yours, yeah?" Deidara scorned.

Naruto didn't bother responding; he simply gave his clones one command.

"_Katsu!" _He called harshly; Deidara barely had time to respond. Just as he stopped the flow of chakra to his feet and manage to spring clear the clones detonated. He avoided most of the blast, but was still caught on his way down by shrapnel. He crashed into the floor as the blast prevented him from controlling his descent properly.

The next time he looked up Naruto and his summon with Karin were flying towards the reopened hole in the roof.

"That's it. I don't care what leader-sama wants. He's dead for using my own attack against me." Deidara muttered to himself, his face contorted into an expression of pure rage.

Naruto and Karin were feeling the air against them as they winged their way towards Konoha on the back of the phoenix. When Naruto summoned the phoenix he felt like groaning. The phoenix he had summoned was physically strong, far stronger than any phoenix the same size or some even larger; but nowhere near as fast as the rest.

The pair riding on the phoenix had their attention draw to the area that they had just escaped from as Deidara burst out yelling a stream of profanities at them while demanding that they turn back. He was quickly gaining on them.

Deidara sent a wave of exploding clay swallows at them, but they were swiftly destroyed by Naruto as he used a grand fireball technique to get rid of them. As the technique cleared they could still see an enraged Deidara tailing them, looming ever closer. It was then that Naruto made his decision and turned to Karin.

"Give this too Baa-chan and tell her that I'll expect them back when I return." Naruto said giving her both the necklace as well as his hitai-ate.

"Why not just your hitai-ate?" She asked.

"Because that only proves that you killed a leaf-nin. It'll also give them a reason to expect my return. Now go" Naruto told her before jumping off of the back of the phoenix, Karin watched him fall with a look of abject horror, before remembering that he couldn't die from the fall.

Naruto began concentrating on the call to go wild that was deep within him. The presence was nowhere as strong as when he was fighting Orochimaru defending his friends. The ground was steadily rushing to greet him as he concentrated on the feeling. He was less than twenty metres from the ground when an almighty roar bellowed from the now transformed shinobi's jaws. Deidara almost fell off of his mount when he saw the transformation and the following roar.

Naruto regained height so that he was level with Deidara. Deidara sent some exploding swallows at him, but he let them collide, they left a few small dents in his golden metal hide, but nothing else.

Deidara couldn't believe his eyes, his swallows did nothing. They may as well, have been mosquitoes to the jinchuuriki. He saw the golden dragon open its jaw and issue a jet of fire. He quickly evaded watching the fire stream past; he didn't expect the follow up charge that followed soon after as the dragon rushed past, knocking him out of the air.

Naruto for his part was talking with Rei inside his head, the connection seeming clearer than ever.

'_You can't take him back to Konoha; he's so angry right now that he'll probably blow everything in sight.' _Rei advised.

'Where then?' Naruto asked.

'_I know. Now that we're out of the village I think a visit to the Hall of Eight Fathoms is long overdue. Head across the sea to Demon Country.' _Rei told him.

He fired a jet of Deidara before rushing off, knocking his opponent out of the air.

'Right full speed ahead.' Naruto intoned in his head.

'_No. Go slow enough to let him follow Give Karin some time to escape.' _Rei called.

She received no reply, but knew that he had under stood when he slowed down.

Deidara desperately reformed another bird for him to fly on as he plummeted, managing to do so before he met with the vegetation that was close to the ground. He gave chase to Naruto, and managed to gain some distance on him. Deidara was following Naruto, though he was completely unaware that Naruto was barely trying to move fast.

'It's odd. I thought I would have transformed back by now. It didn't take long last time." Naruto said to Rei.

'_Perhaps because you were fighting last time and simply flying doesn't make you revert that easily.' _Rei reasoned.

'In any case, I think that Karin has got enough of a head start for me to really be able to open it up.' Naruto said as he really started flying like he wanted to.

Deidara was grinning like a mad man. As soon as that dragon was back in range it was going to get a lovely C3 attack right down its throat.

While he was imagining the way that he was going to make the transformed jinchuuriki suffer he noticed the dragon's sudden shift in speed, he tried to slow it down by sending a few swallows, but the same as before, they had near no effect, even after increasing his speed to max, the clay bird couldn't keep up with the dragon. With no choice left he wheeled around in the sky uttering curses as he went and went back to the sound base to check on Sasori.

* * *

"You know, you'd almost think that our job was pointless. There isn't anyone around for ages" Kotetsu said to his partner Izumo.

"And if there were people lining up to get into Konoha, you'd be complaining about that too." Izumo retorted; he often grew annoyed with his partner's carefree and lazy attitude.

No sooner had Izumo finished admonishing his partner, seven phoenix landed dropping off their cargo of Orochimaru's ex-prisoners.

One of the men immediately dropped off and kissed the earth. Over the next hour every summoned phoenix, including the one carrying Karin, had dropped off their passengers and dispelled themselves.

As soon as the first seven phoenixes had arrived, the guards had sent an emergency signal, not knowing what to expect. By the time that Tsunade and several squads of ANBU had arrived at the scene it became apparent that the people coming weren't hostile.

When Karin had eventually arrived on the last phoenix she was the one to give Tsunade a full explanation.

"Naruto had asked me to give you these as proof that he sent us here." Karin offered the necklace and his headband.

Tsunade gave her an amused look.

"That boy really is an idiot sometimes." Tsunade said as she smiled.

'Ma'am?" Karin asked not sure what she meant.

"He's the only person in Konoha that can summon phoenixes, the necklace and his hitai-ate were almost meaningless as proof." Tsunade explained.

"He said that it was going to provide you with a reason to expect him back." Karin finished.

"Of course." Tsunade said before turning to the group and addressing them.

"Listen up. I'm very sorry to say, but I can't let you right into Konoha immediately, there is a ton of paperwork that needs to be done. I will have some of my ninja provide you with tents and the like out here as well as food. If you have no wish to enter Konoha then you needn't wait around. Once the necessary paper work is processed then you may of course enter and enjoy. Please understand even though I understand your plight, I must still consider Konoha's safety first." She finished her address, many of the people cheered; it was greater hospitality than some had been shown in months or even years.

"Well get to work you two." Tsunade ordered Izumo and Kotetsu.

"But there has to be at least two hundred people here." Kotetsu protested.

"Then you'd better start now if you want dinner tomorrow night." Tsunade with a Cheshire grin about her face.

And so Izumo and Kotetsu started their work.

"You just had to jinx it didn't you?" Izumo grunted at Kotetsu, reminding him of his earlier complaints.

Later that night many of the people who had known Naruto well were considerably happier knowing that he had escaped from Orochimaru after they had been informed by one of the ANBU present at the gates with Tsunade. They were still worried for his safety, but happy none-the-less to know that he was free at the minute.

* * *

Naruto had left the sea behind him as he now flew just south of Marsh Country, following Rei's directions. He was amazed at how long he had maintained the transformation for, but could feel the power waning, so he decided to land and revert, rather than revert one hundred meters in the air.

'So where to from here?' Naruto asked Rei in his head.

'_It's not far now. The shrine itself looks like a rundown castle. It's between March country and Demon country, about an hour north._' Rei answered.

'I can't believe I might finally be getting some answers.' Naruto, made conversation with Rei.

'_Don't get too excited. Remember what Hiko said. They might not tell you if you're not a clan head_.' Rei reasoned.

'They owe me some answers.' Naruto fired back, something that Rei definitely agreed with.

The pair made light conversation until Naruto happened across what appeared to be a dilapidated castle.

'This it?' He asked.

'_This is it_.' She confirmed.

'It looks like a dump. Is there anything that I need to do?' Naruto asked.

'_Walk through the entry way. Everything will become clear_.' She told him. Naruto had his doubts, but still did as he was told regardless.

As Naruto approached he could see the inside of the castle, it matched to outside; old and rundown.

He stopped at the threshold for a moment before crossing. When he was through he was no longer standing in the old castle, but a white room with six pillars in it. There a large central pillar with five pillars evenly around it.

"Welcome to the Hall of Eight Fathoms, Naruto Uzumaki" A deep voice spoke from one of the pillars.

"Am…am I speaking with a God?" Naruto asked, realising as he verbalised, just how stupid the question must have sounded.

"You are. I am Takami Musubi, one of the Gods of creation." Takami Musubi responded.

"Takami Musubi-sama. I have questions that only the gods can answer as they were the ones directly involved." Naruto told them, hoping this travel hadn't been in vain.

"Then ask child. We will answer. I am Ame no Minaka Nushi." A second voice called, this one sounding distinctly female.

"No we should not. He is not a clan head. The agreement was to never speak with any other than one of the five clan heads." A third voice spoke, also sounding decidedly feminine.

"And yet you have selected the boy to be your champion. That will not do Kami Musubi." A third female voice entered the debate.

"Izanami makes a valid point." Takami Musubi's deep voice rang out again. Naruto constantly had to turn to each of the pillars as they spoke, yet there was one pillar that had remained silent, Izanagi's, if he could remember the names from Rei's tale.

"I selected no one to be our champion." Kami Musubi's voice rang again.

"Yet he houses the nine tails and was guided here by it. He deserves answers, even if just for the effort of coming here." The last remaining pillar spoke.

"I second that." Izanami spoke again.

"Speak child. We will answer." Ame no Minaka Nushi told him.

So Naruto nodded and he began speaking.

"I have been told by one of my ancestors as well as letters that my parents left me that the phoenix and dragon clans have received gifts from the Gods. Gifts of partial immortality. Is this true?" Naruto asked getting straight to the heart of the matter.

"That is correct." Ame no Minaka Nushi's voice rang again.

"Then why? What could our clans have done to receive such gifts?" Naruto asked.

"For exemplary service in the wars that once ravaged this entire continent." It was Izanagi's voice this time.

"What reason would the Gods have for rewarding soldiers in a war?" Naruto was confused.

When no one answered for a long while Naruto thought he may have offended them until a grating and hoarse voice spoke from the very floor he was standing on.

"It appears as though no one is willing to answer your question for fear of accidentally placing blame, so I will tell." The voice offered.

"Thank you…" Naruto started, leaving the thanks hanging so that he would know whom he was addressing.

"Shinigami." The voice rasped.

"Arigatou, Shinigami-sama." Naruto offered with a bow.

The Shinigami answered; disregarding the thanks.

"You are likely aware of the shinobi wars of this continent?" Shinigami asked, discerning how much back story was necessary.

"I am." Was Naruto's short reply, allowing the reaper god to continue.

"The wars were made out by the initial instigators to be a battle for control of the continent." The Shinigami proceeded.

"But they weren't. Were they?" Naruto had been told as mush, he had been made aware that those wars were not simple conquests of men.

"Far from it. You are also aware of the tale behind the creation of this world?"" The Shinigami asked. Upon hearing that Naruto was informed he continued.

"Well then I will pick up after there. For a time after the creation there was peace on the high plane of heaven, but only for a time. One day an argument broke out between the five Creation Gods that are housed here. How the argument started. I know not, frankly I do not care either. However, the subject of the argument is well known to me."

"And that was?" Naruto asked, listening intently.

"Who was the key god involved with the creation of the world? It started out between Ame no Minaka Nushi, Kami Musubi and Takami Musubi. Was it Ame no Minaka Nushi for her work in creating Izanami? Was it Kami Musubi for creating Izanagi? Or was it Takami Musubi for helping each of the other two in their creations. Then and Izanagi joined the argument, arguing he was the most pivotal for creating the world using the spear Ama no Nuboko. Finally Izanami claimed the pivotal role after birthing all the Kamis." The Shinigami spoke in its raspy voice.

"I understand but how does this relate to the shinobi wars?" Naruto pressed.

"The five Gods were not content to just let the argument be, yet they could not fight on the high plane of heaven, they did not want to fight on earth, lest they completely destroy it, so they did the next best thing. They had the humans fight for them; they each selected a country as their champion and sent the countries to war against one another. The most pivotal God would be determined by the one whose champion country remained as the victor of the war." The Shinigami finished.

Naruto was thunderstruck; he was practically shaking with rage.

"ALL THOSE LIVES LOST. ALL THESE YEARS OF HATRED, EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED SINCE THAT ARGUMENT? WAS ALL BECAUSE YOU ALL COULD RESOLVE SOME PETTY ARGUMENT?" Naruto screamed, his blood boiling.

"Yes. We were foolish." Takami Musubi answered in a regretful tone.

"And we all paid for that foolishness. My own father was forced to kill hundreds if not thousands of ninja all in the name of a war that shouldn't have ever happened." Naruto managed to reign in his anger, if only a little.

"In any case, there were stand out clans from each of the countries. Each God chose one clan from the country they had sent to war. This clan was granted one wish. I know what the phoenix clan and the dragon clans' wishes were. Would you like to know?" The Shinigami continued.

"Please." Naruto asked.

"The phoenix, they asked to never die and never be forgotten on the battle field. So they were given the power to resurrect as well as the summoning contract." The Shinigami told.

"What about our healing attribute? And why the contract as well?" Naruto asked, surely just the resurrection would have sufficed.

"The healing attribute was there from the beginning, we had no part in that. And as for the contract? Once the person had passed on, they would be forgotten eventually. People would be remembered by their clan name, but not personally. The summoning was a way to ensure that even the weakest of the phoenix clan could live again on the battle field, only at the summoner's discretion, of course." Naruto nodded in understanding as the Shinigami went on.

"In any case the dragons asked to always die with honour. So they were made immortal in the sense that you know it to be. After all, the dragons considered dying on the battle field the most honourable way to go." The Shinigami informed.

"So then how do I fit into this?" Naruto asked.

"Even though we could grant the clans one wish, we could not grant them true immortality, after all there is a very fine line between true immortality and Godhood. So when it came to light that you were truly immortal, we decided to make you our champion." Takami Musubi responded.

"Champion? What for?" Naruto asked. Every time he had a question answered, another popped up.

"There is a man that knows the truth of the wars. He seeks to kill us and replace us as a God, then have his subordinates rule over the world; this is his version of peace." The Izanagi informed

"Surely you could kill him yourselves." Naruto wondered.

"Ever since the end of the wars we decided that we would not directly interfere with the lives of men. If we started making exceptions, then we would be inclined to do so again." Izanami continued

"And me?" Naruto all but demanded.

"We have not interfered in your life directly. The nine tails was sent as your weapon and to guide you to us. You still had the ultimate choice. She was also sent to be a friend throughout your life, when all of your other friends had died." Kami Musubi answered.

"Don't call her a weapon." Naruto growled angrily.

"She is a weapon. She has a soul attached so that no one could use the weapon incorrectly, but she is still a weapon none-the-less." Kami Musubi retorted.

"Rei-chan is a wonderful person. She is kind, she has helped me when I have needed it and she is a very close friend." Naruto responded angrily.

"You dare to speak to me in such a manner? I could easily…" Kami Musubi hissed back.

"Directly interfere in the life of a man?" Naruto spat. "If this is the way that you treat you so called champion then perhaps it would be better for me to allow this man to run his course and perhaps he would grant me freeing Rei-chan." Naruto continued.

"Calm yourself Kami Musubi." Tamaki Musubi reprimanded.

"You would have Rei freed? Even If it means that the sacrifice it took to seal her would be in vain?" Ame no Minaka Nushi's voice rang, picking up that the boy didn't like Rei being referred to as either the nine tails or a weapon.

"The sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. It was done to protect the people of Konoha. As long as they survive then the sacrifice is never in vain."

"A good answer." Izanagi voiced.

"Then as a show of faith we will free Rei from the seal and give her a body in a likeness of her choosing. We do this not to interfere in the life of a man, but as a request from our champion. Take note, that if your work pleases us, then we may listen to further requests." Tamaki Musubi offered.

"You'd do that?" Naruto asked.

"This time yes. Future requests will be decided based on your accomplishments on earth." Tamaki Musubi confirmed.

"Of course that would mean that you would have no further need of interacting in such a familiar manner with mortals." Kami Musubi's voice called again.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"Simply put; you would no longer need to court another as Rei would suffice. We would make her immortal as the dragons are, so that the Dragon's pact with the Shinigami wouldn't take effect unless he was mortally wounded, You simply have to protect her if you don't wish to die." Kami Musubi explained.

"And if Rei didn't want me as anything other than as a friend." Naruto tested.

"She would have no choice." Kami Musubi responded.

"Not to directly interfere with the lives of men. Surely dictating who I am allowed and not allowed to love would come under that. Rei too. Once she is human you would not be able to directly interfere with her life either." Naruto explained, using the Gods own rules against them.

The sound of both Izanagi and Izanami laughing at the situation rang through the hall before Tamaki Musubi spoke again.

"Then for now, we will free Rei as agreed. Then we will set for you tasks that you must complete back on earth. Complete these tasks and we will consider negotiating further, however you must think carefully about what you want, otherwise you may not get exactly what you wish." Tamaki decided.

"You sound as though you are speaking from experience." Naruto spoke.

"We are. The clan head from Cloud country made a careless wish. While the dragons and phoenix were shrewd enough to word their requests in a way that would benefit them; the man from Cloud asked for the power of the gods to be given to all those of Kumo descent." Izanagi replied.

"And indeed he got the power of the gods. Originally there were only four elements that man could use. Fire, water, earth and wind. With his request the manipulation of lightening became available to man. But his request was to have it made available to all of Kumo descent. So all received it, traitors and prisoners included, which is how it spread through the lands so easily. If he had simply wished that the power had been available to those loyal to Kumo then lightening manipulation would have remained within Cloud country. Make a careless wish like he did and you too will suffer the consequences." Izanami finished the story.

"Thank you. I will consider exactly what it is that I want when I meet next. For now, I would ask that you honour your offer to have Rei –chan freed from the seal." Naruto accepted.

"We will. Summon her here as she wishes to be seen. She will receive a normal body that will grow and age with time. She will be considered part of the dragon clan due to the blessing of immortality that we will give her; eternal youth and death only from a mortal wound. Her body will be that of any normal human, the remainder of her chakra will stay with you" Ame no Minaka Nushi defined.

'_Naruto-kun. Bring me out as you did when we went to the cafe with your friends. The same age as you.' _Rei's voice chimed in his head.

'You don't want to be an adult?' Naruto offered.

'_No otherwise it would raise too many questions amongst your friends. Some day we can tell them everything, but not right now.' _Rei offered.

Naruto accepted her reasoning, and summoned her out of the mindscape in her teenage form.

"Rei, do you accept what is to happen? To be made partially immortal, to leave behind your power within this boy and live as a normal human." The Shinigami's rasping voice spoke.

"I do." Was the swift reply.

"Then it is done." The Shinigami rasped.

"That's it? No bright light? No pai…ARGH! WHT THE HELL?!" Naruto screamed as he felt an inordinate amount of chakra surge through his coils.

"Your body is adapting to receiving nearly nine tails worth of chakra. There is bound to be some pain on your behalf." Kami Musubi spoke, though it sounded as through she were somewhat satisfied.

Rei was a grounding for Naruto, speaking to him as he endured the pain, her voice soothing. Within two minutes the pain had passed and Naruto was upright again.

"Great, if my chakra control was bad before with the amount of chakra I had, I'd hate to think what it's like now." Naruto grumbled, though only light heartedly.

"About the same at a guess. Each time you used a jutsu some of your chakra was always redirected to the seal to maintain its integrity. Every time you use a jutsu some of Rei's chakra would try and force its way into your coils, the large the chakra required for the jutsu, the more of Rei's chakra would try and enter your system, the more of your chakra was needed to keep it out unless you allowed it in." Izanagi corrected.

"With her chakra being converted to your own there won't be any additional draining; you should be able to learn most jutsu with relative ease, though some jutsu will still be out of reach for you." Izanami continued the explanation.

"That…is a relief. Now the last matter to attend to is the list of tasks you want me to do while on earth."

"Yes. Undoubtedly you have guessed we wish for you to stop the one that wishes to kill us to enact his own version of peace."

"Could he not be inducted as a god an allowed to enact his own version of peace?" Naruto asked.

"No this man, he will have to demand sovereignty over all the countries within the elemental nations, something that they will not relinquish. It will result in a war regardless. Despite our past actions we would like to avoid more war at all costs. The end he seeks does not justify the means, so he must be stopped. You will stop Madara Uchiha."

"Wait, I know that name." Naruto said astounded.

"Yes he is the leader of the group that would take over the world; leaving him a god and his subordinates as rulers. Akatsuki." Kami Musubi offered.

"The other is an immortal named Hidan. His brother was another man named Jashin, who forced his way to Godhood. As you are aware the Gods will not fight with one another anymore. But his Godhood is false. The man practices a pagan religion where a sacrifice's blood is offered in exchange for immortality. It is an old method for one to become a god and another to receive immortality, rarely used as few humans will acknowledge one they know to be mortal as a god, regardless of the benefits they may reap." Izanagi explained.

"Couldn't Madara achieve the same?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but he won't settle for anything less than the real thing. To touch the spear Ama no Nuboko is to become a god. This spear is also the only weapon capable of killing a god. He will touch the spear and ignore the rules that we five have set since the end of the third ninja war by killing us." Ame no Minaka Nushi told.

"So if I can kill those two then we can negotiate?" Naruto asked.

"No there is one more. Orochimaru. That man must pay. He summoned the dead and reversed the natural cycle of life. Such a travesty must not go unpunished. Kill him and I will listen to your requests also." The Shinigami spoke.

Naruto nodded before speaking one last time.

"It seems as though I have my work cut out for me. I promise not to fail." He said before both he and Rei retreated in a bow out of the hall, when they crossed the threshold of the Hall of Eight Fathoms they were outside the dilapidated castle once again.

Naruto looked at Rei, only to see a blur of red as she crashed into his chest crying.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm free, thank you, I can ever repay you." She sobbed into his chest.

"There was never a need. You never deserved the fate you were handed; the least I could do was change that." Naruto consoled as he hugged her close.

* * *

**Chapter End**

I'm not entirely happy with this chapter either, but I would like some reviews this time around. All I wanna know is if I was too predictable with thestory line or if you guys think that it was original enough.

Until next time.

Cheers,  
Fish


	19. Chapter 19

The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 18

Hi all. First off let me say thanks for the massive response that I got for last chapter. I really didn't expect something like that, so truly thank you. I hope that the previous chapter explained a few things, I know that a lot of people wanted the reason behind Naruto's Immortality; I hope that was a satisfying reason how.

Secondly let me apologise for my long absence. My mother lost her job so I had to pick up the slack and pay the bills plus every other cost involved with living; meaning I went from working sixteen hours a fortnight to fifty to sixty hours a week. Needless to say I haven't had time for much of anything.

In any case, I should get on with the new chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

XXX

"So you failed, Deidara." The voice stated, rather than asked.

"Yes, Leader-sama." Deidara responded, his head hung in a bow. There were a multitude of reasons why he failed, the fact still remained that he had failed his mission.

"And you Sasori? What of your mission?" Their leader asked.

"I have the ring." Sasori spat, as though holding the thing left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Why so bitter? You succeeded." Their leader enquired.

"I got the ring, but Orochimaru and his lackeys, Kabuto, escaped." Sasori replied.

"Pay it no mind. You succeeded in your mission. We can replace Orochimaru and there will be other chances to end his life." Their leader replied coolly.

"Of course." Sasori responded, but hardly looking appeased.

"Deidara. Explain to me why you failed." Their leader demanded.

"In short, I blasted the place till I could find him. I found him when a whole flock of phoenix flew out of one of the holes in the roof I created, all of them carrying prisoners. When I found him I sealed my entrance with exploding clay. He and I fought. Eventually he figured out that he could use an exploding clone to take out the clay I had on the roof, catching me in the blast." Deidara stopped for a second to gather his thoughts before continuing, his leader waited patiently.

"While I was down for a second he summoned one more phoenixes to fly him and a companion to Konoha. I gave chase and started using clay to bring the phoenix down. That's when he jumped off and transformed." Deidara said.

"Transformed?" His leader asked, his partner also looking in mild interest.

"He transformed into a giant golden dragon. Its hide was virtually impenetrable to ordinary attacks. I used exploding clay swallows, but they did nothing, it didn't even flinch." Deidara recounted.

"It led me away from Konoha, so I gave chase, trying to use a more powerful explosive when I got in range. The distance was kept roughly even throughout the flight, I think he was trying to lure me away from the phoenix and the person riding it, because at some point the distance blew out, he wasn't even trying to fly fast until then, and there was no way a clay bird could keep up with it." Deidara finished.

"I see. So it wasn't as though you were really at fault. It just seems that you were useless. If you can't even harm the jinchuuriki, then you have little use, yet you know far too much about us to…" Their leader started.

Deidara panicked seeing what his leader was getting at  
"NO…wait…it was just this one jinchuuriki. They couldn't all be like that. Besides, my jinchuuriki to capture is the Ichibi. Kisame was the one that failed in the first place." Deidara bargained.

Their leader considered his words.

"Very well. You will be allowed to live, but you best not failed you own capture, the consequences could be rather unpleasant." Their leader reconsidered. His image flickered on the hologram seal before disappearing from the room.

Deidara let out a sigh of relief; he was saved, for now.

XXX

"Your bidding, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked, wary of his master's foul mood after having lost prisoners, the Akatsuki ring and a prime test subject in Naruto.

"We wait. Anything that I want is going to take patience and careful planning." The snake sannin replied. "Jiraiya will ensure that the boy is inaccessible for a while. I will simply have to wait until their guard is lowered again. Also, if they focus their attention on the boy, then it may distract them from other prizes." He grinned as he thought of the prospect.

"And the new arm, my Lord?" Kimimaro inquired, Kabuto had transplanted an arm after Sasori's wind mask had removed Orochimaru's own.

"This arm is virtually useless with how crudely it was sewn on. The most it is good for are the daily tasks. I will simply take a new body, and with it a new arm." Orochimaru answered, thinking nothing of the slight against Kabuto's skill as a medic, despite the fact that he was standing before him.

"The ring. What was it used for?" Kabuto asked.

"It allows them to seal a Bijuu within a statue that is vital to their end game. Without the ring, the sealing rituals cannot be performed." Orochimaru replied.

"So you stalled them in their goals for at least a few good years." Kimimaro smirked.

"I had hoped that the ring had some hidden properties, but alas, beyond its uses for Akatsuki, it is little more than a decoration." Orochimaru informed.

"The only thing to be seen to in the immediate future is for Kabuto to find an appropriate _donor_ for an arm and then sew the arm with more care than previously shown.

"At once, my Lord." Kabuto intoned before scurrying form the room.

"All in good time Konoha. I will strip you of all that you hold dear, before crushing you." Orochimaru said to himself before cackling wildly.

XXX

In Konoha spirits had been considerably higher after prisoners had made it to Konoha with word of Naruto's escape. A few of the prisoners were 'interrogated' by Ibiki and Tsunade, though with their willingness to give information on the hated snake sannin, it was more like an interview as there was no need for mental or physical interrogation techniques.

It came as a when Karin said that she wanted only the Hokage and her most trusted ears to listen to the information she had to give. Needless to say, Tsunade was grateful for the request when she found that the information that the girl possessed could have been detrimental to Naruto if it got into the wrong hands; she wasn't blind enough to believe that every shinobi was loyal and wasn't spying for a different master.

It had been nearly a two weeks since Naruto had sent the prisoners to Konoha, he had kept in touch through Shinme, letting Tsunade know that he was fine and that he hadn't been captured. When Tsunade had asked why he was spending so long away, and received the reply 'training chakra control' she was more than a little surprised.

XXX

Karin was sitting, reading, in her ANBU guarded room, she was technically still a prisoner as she was once one of Orochimaru's workers, though not by choice. Even so, she had been shown far more kindness and freedom here in Konoha after just two weeks than she had by Orochimaru in her entire life.

While she was reading she felt a nagging presence at the edge of her mind, she tried to push it away, but found that she couldn't. It was as though the sensation was determined to make itself known. When she finally got sick of trying to ignore the feeling she threw her book away in frustration and actually took the time to examine it. After no more that a moment she came to a startling conclusion.

'That's a chakra signal. It's Naruto's chakra, but it's way stronger. I normally have to actively search to find them, how in the hell did that one force its way into my senses? Either way, Hokage-sama will want to know.' She thought.

"I have a message for Tsunade-sama." Karin announced out of the blue. "Tell her that I can sense Naruto's chakra signal approaching Konoha, it think he's coming home." She informed.

One ANBU nodded to the other before disappearing. He was gone for less than ten seconds before both he and Tsunade reappeared in the room.

"Are you sure about that?" She demanded. Karin only gave a nod. "Which direction?" she demanded again.

"North." Was the simple reply.

She was whisked away to find herself in a training field, within a group of genin train. Tsunade spoke to a tall man with a shock of silver hair, noting that the man's visible eye widened before the skin around it crinkled, indicating that he was smiling. They walked back to her, Kakashi making and excuse about leaving early, before turning to Tsunade.

"I'd like to pick someone up before we head off, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said.

"Fine, we'll meet you at the northern gate. I also wanna pick someone else up." She said, before both departed in a puff of smoke.

XXX

Behind her, Haku heard the distinctive sound of a shunshin, though she didn't bother to look behind her. There were only two people that visited her up here; Megumi and Kakashi.

"Come on. We're heading to the Northern Gate." He announced. She eyed him curiously before responding.

"What on earth for?" She asked.

"Well I figured that since Naruto was returning home you may wanna meet him when he arrived." Kakashi said nonchalantly.

Haku was immediately on her feet and grabbed Kakashi's arm before shunshining both of them to the Northern Gate.

"You know I was gonna get us here if you gave me a second." Kakashi groused upon arrival.

Noticing that Shizune was also there Kakashi gave her a quick smile that she returned. She knew his most regular hangout's and made an effort to prevent him from returning top old habits, like spending two hours lost in thought in front of the memorial stone. He in, return prevented her from becoming a total recluse and burying herself in her work.

"So how long?" Tsunade asked Karin.

"Hard to say. Give me another ten minutes and I can give you and E T A." Karin replied.

Ten minutes elapsed in relative silence; there was a little small talk here and there, but nothing major, though Tsunade did note that Kakashi and Shizune did stand a little closer together and away from herself, Haku and Karin. The group did notice Karin getting more and more uncomfortable; it only became truly obvious when she needed to speak again.

"Any idea now? Tsunade asked again, Karin was looking rather pale.

"He's about fifteen…" She couldn't finish her sentence; she had to turn, run to a corner and vomited.

"You ok?" Haku asked.

"It's his chakra. It's enormous…it's so strong it's making me sick. It's masking the trace of the other two that are with him. One's the phoenix that he's riding, the other, it feels human, but it's almost impossible for me to feel though his chakra." She explained

They watched her carefully as she continued to heave. Since she had nothing left in her stomach after the first round, she had to dry reach and feel the acid rise and burn in her throat.

It was ten minutes later and all five well all looking on the horizon for some sign of the blond. There was little doubt about his return, if Karin's senses were any indication, when they saw a small black dot on the horizon. Karin was still having trouble with the enormous amount of chakra that she was detecting from Naruto, though it was getting easier, the longer she was exposed to it the more habituated she became.

Within minutes the group could see Naruto and a red headed girl riding aboard a phoenix, Naruto waving energetically as he approached. Haku broke into a dead run when she could no longer sit still, running at the approaching phoenix. Tsunade made to go after her but quickly stopped herself when she found a gentle yet retraining hand on her shoulder. She turned to see that Kakashi had placed a hand on her shoulder and gave his familiar eye smile.

"Forgive me Hokage-sama, but give them a moment." He said, feeling her relax under his grip.

Haku was still running at Naruto and quickly closing the gap between them, she could hear him calling her name as she approached.  
"Haku-chan! Haku-cha…GAH!" Naruto was suddenly surprised when the raven haired girl had shunshined up onto the phoenix. The phoenix, not expecting the extra weight so suddenly lurched and faltered before being forced to make an emergency landing.

The phoenix was less than amused, though seeing that it was now unnecessary, told Naruto such and dispelled itself, though no one took any notice as they were too caught up in a reunion.

Naruto was engulfed in a hug that damn near broke his ribs, Haku had attached herself around his midriff and didn't appear to want to let go any time soon.

She looked him in the eye before slapping him across the cheek, "That was for causing me so much pain." She said, Tsunade, Shizune and Karin all gawking, Kakashi had been told by Sasuke and Sakura when Naruto was not present.

"And this is for coming back to me." Haku said softly, before kissing him on the cheek that she had slapped. Unlike last time she didn't correct the word 'me' to 'us'. She let her lips linger on his cheek, still hugging each other. They only pulled apart, both with red faces, when they heard Tsunade clear her throat very obviously.

"Get a room you two." Tsunade said as she walked over.

"Get over it Baa-chan." Naruto called back to her.

"Why I oughta…" Tsunade started rushing towards him, Naruto closed his eyes expecting to be sent flying when both Tsunade and Shizune had their arms around him, Shizune was crying.

"Nee-chan? Aren't you happy to see me?" Naruto joked, but he didn't expect her tears to come even heavier.

"It's my fault. I told Shikamaru to leave you; I said that you would be fine because you had abilities that he didn't know about." Shizune bawled into his shoulder.

"And if you had come after me then you would have been killed. Naruto fired back." Causing Shizune to stop abruptly.  
"See, if even the brat can see that then you need to wake up to it eventually too, Shizune." Tsunade lightly chided her assistant. Shizune detached herself from Naruto and allowed Kakashi to greet him.

"I told your friends that you'd be fine. They were all pretty upset about it. They even wanted to go on a retrieval mission to get you. You've got a great group of friends, friends you can trust." Kakashi emphasised the word trust, bringing to Naruto's mind the need to confide in his friends about his jinchuuriki status. Naruto had always said that if they reacted badly he'd hate to lose them as friends. Kakashi had said that if they did they weren't real friends, and those that had remained would have an even stronger bonds.

Karin felt like a slight outsider in all of the emotion, she didn't really know Naruto well enough to really run up and hug him though she did feel grateful for freeing her from Orochimaru. Naruto did however see her and gave her a wave which she gladly returned.

"Baa-chan, there are things I need to talk with you about an I know you have more than a few questions for me but can we leave them off for now. I wanna meet my friends; I wanna see the village… wanna have ramen." There were a few chortles before Tsunade granted him permission.

"Be at my office ten sharp kid. Enjoy yourself till then." Tsunade told him, before shunshining away with Karin. Shizune and Kakashi followed right after, though presumably to different places.

This left Naruto, Rei and Haku a little way outside of the Northern gates. They wandered their way back through the gates, the guards giving them no trouble; welcoming back Naruto to the village, a surprise to him; apparently his heroics against Gaara had made themselves be known across the village, lifting their view of him.

As they meandered through the village, Naruto noticed all the efforts that had gone into repairing the village in the past two or so months that he had been away, restoring the village to its former glory. They eventually ended up in front of Ichiraku's.

"Welcome to Ichir…NARUTO-KUN!" Ayame had started out with her usual greeting, only to stop in surprise and rush around the other side of the counter to hug their newly returned number one customer. She gave him a bone crushing hug just as her father walked out of the kitchen after hearing her cry out. Upon seeing Naruto, his face automatically crinkled into a smile.

"Naruto-kun, welcome home." Teuchi greeted him, his happiness evident in his words.

"I…it's good to h…home, Teuchi-jiji." Naruto managed to puff out as Ayame still hadn't released his midsection.

"Three deluxe ramen coming up. And what are the girls having?"

"Miso, thank you." They both responded together.

"Coming up and on the house." Ayame had finally let go of his midsection to go help her father cook the ramen.

The five talked, though the conversation was mostly dominated by Naruto telling them of what happened in his time at Orochimaru's base. Haku was more than surprised to hear that there was one more Kaguya alive, telling the rest that she though they had been purged in the bloodline wars of Kiri. Naruto, for one, ate at what could be described as a 'near human rate'. Though still eating his ramen faster than either of the girls, he took more time to enjoy the flavours of the food.

All too soon for the group it was time to head off they spent the time wandering around the village just talking. At some point Haku looked at Rei and gave her a confused look.

"Shouldn't the chakra from the bunshin have run out by now?" She asked. She saw Rei and Naruto quickly glance at each other, at this point she knew something was up.

"Let's head to the memorial." Naruto announced, confusing Haku, Rei knew he had picked it as a place that was most likely deserted so he could talk without too much fear of what was going to happen.

This time they walked like they had a purpose. Their slow amble from before was now raised to a steady pace as they wended their way to the memorial that honoured fallen ninja as heroes.  
"Lemme guess. You altered the technique so that it lasts longer in battle but you didn't want any one finding out."  
"Interesting thought, but not even close. The reason that Rei isn't disappearing is because she can't. She's…not a bunshin; she's real." Naruto said barely above a whisper.

Haku smiled, then chuckled, then she stopped, seeing Naruto and Rei's faces dead set serious. She looked at them closely for any sign of a prank before marching over to Rei.

"Sorry about this, Rei-chan." Haku said in advance, before prodding her hard in the head.

"Ow. A bit of warning would have been nice." Rei cried as she got jabbed in the head.

Haku looked at her for a second, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted.

"Haku-chan!" Naruto called, coming to her aid.

The next time she woke up she was resting her head on Naruto's lap, with Rei sitting Indian by her side, the pair were talking until Rei noticed that she was awake.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty." Rei greeted with a grin. Haku had a rush of memories and sat up immediately, Naruto and Rei both forcing her back down.

"Talk it easy." Naruto chided.

"How? How is that even possible? You told me the story. How did you manage to release a seal planted by a god?" Haku asked in a rush. Naruto hesitated, before answering.

"It was done by a god. It was a show of good faith. They have set me some tasks, as a show of good faith for taking on these tasks; they freed Rei from her imprisonment.

"Right, and what were these tasks?" Haku asked.  
"Kill two immortals and a man who altered the course of nature by awakening the dead." Naruto said in a rather casual manner as though he were talking about picking flowers.

"Orochimaru has to be one, after that jutsu he used in the chuunin exams to fight the Sandaime. But the immortals?" Haku asked.

"Hidan, the Jashinite and the founder of the Uchiha, Madara Uchiha." Naruto answered.

"They're immortal. How are you planning on doing that?" Haku asked.

"I have complete immortality. Apparently it's against the rules to give true immortality, so I just have to see how theirs works and find a way to kill them that won't reincarnate them." Naruto answered as though it were the easiest thing on earth.

"Against the rules?" Haku asked, expecting him to clarify.

"We spoke with the Gods of Creation. Apparently when they grant an individual the blessing of immortality it can't be a true immortality. However, because my blessing is a combination it's all fair game." He explained.

"Right." She responded, though she sounded uncertain.

"In any case, let's head to the training grounds…I wanna see everyone." Naruto responded.

"Yeah…let's" Haku replied, still sounding as though she had something weighing heavily on her mind, but moved to comply regardless.

XXX

"So…worked out what's wrong?" Misao asked Kiba as he tended to Akamaru.

"Far as I can tell he sensed a hufe chakra signal coming this way. We haven't heard anything special from the area so I don't think it's hostile, but it's almost becoming painful for him with how strong the signal is." Kiba replied.

"My kikai are in a similar state. They can sense the chakra, it's almost overwhelming them." Shino added.

XXX

Naruto, Haku and Rei were quickly making their way to the usual training grounds where the genin had their sessions; they could see the area in front of them no more than one hundred metres ahead. As they approached the clearing they were almost shocked to see the genin sitting around and talking, the jounin sensei appeared to be letting them, rather than being on their cases about slacking off.

Naruto was practically overjoyed to see them, he put on a sudden burst of speed that neither the girls could keep up with and raced into the clearing.

"I leave for a few months and already you guys are slacking off. You could have at least trained so you could try and rescue me." Naruto joked.

The group was stock still, they were processing the information that they had just received when Sasuke responded the first.

"YOU FREAKIN' BAKA! WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT GOES ON A RESCUE MISSION THE GETS CAPTURED HIMSELF!?" He received a few startled looks before Naruto burst out laughing, the entire group looking at the pair as though they'd gone off the deep end.

"Almost as big a baka as the one who got captured in the first place." Naruto responded.

By this time the girls for the rookie twelve squad had gotten most of their functions back, the next thing Naruto saw was a blur of purple, blond and two different shades of blue before he was flat on his back with four girls giving him a bone crushing hug.

Rei and Haku both walking into the training area in time to see him crash to the ground with four girls clinging to some part of his body, had an identical look of displeasure flash across each of their faces, a look that did not go unnoticed by Kurenai as she noticed their arrival. Kurenai grinned as she saw the rookie girls get off him rather quickly as they noticed Rei and Haku approached.  
"We're so glad that you're back. We asked Tsunade-sama to go on a mission to rescue you. She refused, telling us that you'd be alive and that we had to trust you." Misao told him, a deep amount of regret in her voice at not being able to go and help him.

"I'm glad that she refused. Orochimaru isn't exactly the first guy anyone would ever pick to take on." Naruto shivered as his mind turned to the vile snake sannin.

"The ex-prisoners that arrived here said that you rescued them. How did you manage that and getting yourself to safety?" Sai asked.

"I have a meeting with the Hokage tomorrow. I'm not sure how much I can and can't tell you. I'll know after the meeting. Then I'll tell you after that." Naruto answered, though it wasn't the real reason behind his hesitation, he still needed to sort things out and then talk with Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi.

"So then, what do you want to do?" Ami asked.

"I want to train. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I've recently increased my stores of chakra. It's hard to use, so I need to train as much as possible to get used to it."

"Wait? That's you? Kiba and Shino said that the chakra source was enormous. What happened?" Ino asked.

"I'll tell you what I can after tomorrow, there's a lot going on right now." He explained, Ami accepted the response.

And so it began. They resumed training, pairing up and sparring for a short while. Then at Kurenai's command they would swap partners. Thus far Naruto had been paired against Hinata, Sai and Sakura. He wasn't certain until he'd fought Sakura, but he was almost certain that they were pulling their punches and treading as though they were walking on eggshells.

His next opponent was Sasuke; someone he knew always tried his hardest, regardless. When the match began he charged in, but Sasuke remained on the stationary, when Naruto launched his first attack he left a gap wide open for a counter, but it wasn't taken, nor were the several opportunities that he presented with the next few strikes.

"Alright. That's it. What the hell has gotten into you? You're all acting as though I'll break if you so much as touch me. What the hell is going on?" Naruto demanded, he wasn't angry…more frustrated than anything, he wanted to regain some sense of normalcy and yet his friends were treating him like an academy student.

"Naruto, you just got back. Surely you don't expect us to go all out? We want you around for a bit longer and we're not sure where you're at." Ami was the first to respond.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" Naruto baffled. "When I came home I expected everything to be normal again. I want things to be normal so I can just move past being captured. If you guys are gonna tread on eggshells around me how the hell are any of us going to get any better?" He asked.

"Naruto, we're just concerned for you. We don't want you to over exert yourself." Sakura tried to console.

"Overexert myself? You remember who you're talking to right?" Naruto felt like laughing when he heard that.

It seemed that Naruto had made his point if the gleam in Sasuke's eye was any indication. When they resumed their sparring, Sasuke fought with an intensity that wasn't present previously. The others that had yet to spar with Naruto didn't pull their punches either, something that they he was grateful.

At some point through the sparring Rei and Haku said their goodbyes to the group, promising to catch up the next day.

XXX

Haku and Rei had not yet parted way and found themselves up upon the Yondaime's head.

"So what are we going to do?" Rei asked.

"About Naruto, and you…and me." She explained quietly. "We can't ignore what's in front of us any longer. You like him, more deeply than just as a friend, and I until recently saw him as just that, a friend." Rei responded.

"He changed your opinion in the time away?" Haku asked.

"No, not my opinion. My opinion of him was always at its highest. I could see him and you getting close to one another; I was going to stand aside for you." Rei started.

"But something changed while you were away? Something he did?" Haku asked perceptibly.

"He gave me my freedom. He bargained, argued and defied a god's will to have me freed, to change my fate. How many people do you know that would go that far?" Rei answered.

"None, that's what makes him who he is, and the reason why we are in love with him." Haku answered truthfully as Rei chuckled at her response.

"That's the first time that you've admitted to actually being in love with him." Rei ribbed.

"If you are being honest about this then I can at least do the same." Haku replied.

"Still, neither of us has answered the question. What should we do?" Rei pressed.

"I wasn't aware that anything needed to be done." Haku replied simply.

"You can't possibly mean that." Rei replied in disbelief.

"You know I can. Look in your own heart. Can you bring yourself to give him up? Knowing how you feel, and how you would feel without him, could you put another in the same position? Could you make him choose between us?" Haku asked.  
"I….no…on all accounts no." Rei responded, thinking about what Haku was saying.

"If that's the case, then you know what needs to be done." Haku answered her question.

"Nothing needs to be done. We accept things as they are. And stand by it." Rei finished the answer to the problem.

Haku smiled gently, before motioning to start walking down. Haku walked Rei to Naruto and Kakashi's house, saying good bye to the three before departing.

Once they were inside and they had been talking a while it was then that Kakashi turned to Rei and asked her about still being present.

"Not that I mind you still being here, but isn't it unusual that the bunshin hasn't expired by now." Kakashi asked Rei, the blond and the redhead turning to each other before Naruto replied.

"Aniki, I'm gonna be direct about this and say the bare minimum. Everything will be explained tomorrow, but for now, understand that Rei-chan has a real body." Naruto gave him the absolute skeleton of what was going on.

Kakashi's visible eye widened before he chose to respond.

"I'm gonna love to hear the explanation for this in the morning." Kakashi finally spoke.

"You're taking it better than Haku-chan." Naruto told him.

"Why what did she do?" Kakashi asked.

"She jabbed me really hard in the head to try and dispel the bunshin, then when I didn't dispel she fainted." Rei groused.

Kakashi didn't respond, but you could see the bemusement lighting his eyes.

XXX

The next morning Naruto had presented to the Hokage's office along with Rei and Kakashi. Tsunade was seated but Sarutobi and Jiraiya were standing behind her.

"Glad you could make it on time." She said to Naruto, though everyone on the room could tell that her words were directed at Kakashi, if her glare was any indication.

"Is there a reason that you summoned Rei out?" Sarutobi asked.

"A lot of this directly relates to her as well as to me." Naruto responded.

"Very well then, you may as well tell us why were you so late getting back and what's with the ridiculous increase with your chakra." Tsunade asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, I s'pose the best way to answer that is to say that I had to spend time training my chakra control as nearly the whole amount of Rei's chakra was converted to be my own." That statement made more than a few jaws drop.

"What? How? The seal wasn't supposed to complete that job until another ten years. How was it sped up so drastically?" Jiraiya was stunned.

Naruto paused for a second before he chose to answer.

"I trust that Karin told you everything up to the point where we parted ways when we escaped." Naruto asked.

""She did, and I want to see this transformation." Tsunade told him.  
"You will but for now I'm gonna continue the story from where we split paths. Ok, the first thing that happened was that after Deidara started chasing me and I had given Karin enough of a head start I lost Deidara by speeding up how fast I was flying. I flew across the ocean to demon country." Naruto explained, taking a breath in the process.

"Demon country? That's ages away. Why there?" Kakashi asked.

"It was Rei's idea. She said that there was a place that certain people could go to converse with the gods.

"The Hall of Eight Fathoms?" Sarutobi enquired.

"Yes, how did you know?" Rei asked.

"It's mentioned in our creation myth. In any case, please continue Naruto." Sarutobi answered before motioning to the genin to continue.

"As hard as it is to believe, I spoke with the five Creation Gods. I asked them about the blessings my two different clans received, and why they were given. The responded that they were for outstanding service in the wars." Naruto answered.

"Why would the gods get involved in a mortals' war?"Tsunade asked with narrowed eyes.

"I asked the same thing. You know what they said? They said that it was their fault that the wars started in the first place. Apparently the Creation Gods fought over who had the most pivotal role, when they couldn't agree they decided to fight for the title. But they didn't want to destroy the high plane of heaven and if they fought on earth then they would destroy that as well. So each God selected a country. This country represented the god and when one country dominated all others they would be declared the most pivotal god. So to help their countries along they gave some of their citizens extraordinary powers." Naruto could feel the eyes of all the adults on him as he revealed the grim truth of their world.

"I can't believe it. All those wars, all those lives lost, families broken and the hatred that resulted, all for a petty argument." Sarutobi truly did look his age right at this point.

"Your two clans were blessed, but what were others?" Kakashi asked.

"The only told me on other, it was the request from a man that was from Kumo, he asked to have the power of the Gods granted to all those of Kumo descent. Apparently at the time there were only four elements for humans to use, fire, water, earth and wind. His wish granted the use of raiton to all of Kumo descent. Including P.O.W's and traitors, which is probably how the trait spread through the lands." Naruto explained.

"And how does all this related back to you absorbing and converting all of Rei's chakra?" Tsunade asked.

"Well in short, they've asked a few favours of me. To kill two immortals and a person that perverted the course of nature. Them freeing Rei, giving her a body and giving me her chakra was a show of faith."

"A show of faith? Who do you have to kill?" Sarutobi asked.

"Hidan the Jashinite, Orochimaru of the sannin and Madara Uchiha, the founder of the Uchiha clan." Naruto replied. The listeners were slack jawed at the final name.

"Madara? My own sensei killed him, he died in the process." Sarutobi ground out.

"Apparently not, and he also found out the truth of the world, he's using the power of his group, Akatsuki to capture the Bijuu and then use their power somehow to kill the gods and create his own utopia where his subordinates will rule." Naruto fired back.

"How did all of my spy networks never in more than forty years never stumble upon his existence?" Jiraiya asked out loud, though it was understood that the question was rhetorical.

Naruto took a deep breath before talking again.

"I want to leave the village for a while; I want to train to become stronger. I want to see Hiko-sensei to learn the rest of the Hiten Mitsurugi sword style. He can also help me with my dragon form." Naruto asked.

"Granted. On one condition. You take Jiraiya with you." Tsunade responded. "While your other sensei will train you in only the sword style, I want you to remain with Jiraiya to train you in all else that remains. There are other aspects of ninja life that he can introduce you to that can only be experienced by leaving the village." Tsunade informed.

"You've been considering this for a while now haven't you?" Naruto asked, latching onto the fact that her response was so well thought out for a spur of the moment request.

"Yeah, when we found that Itachi and Kisame were after you it became a priority." Tsunade replied honestly.

"If that's the case then how soon can I leave?" Naruto asked.

"Tomorrow." Jiraiya grunted. "I need to make some final preparations before we leave, otherwise we could have left now."

"How long for?" Naruto asked.

"Four years or till I'm satisfied with your progress. Whichever comes first." Jiraiya replied.

"Four years? Wow. I'll be nearly eighteen by then." Naruto said as he thought about what he was getting into.

"It'll be quicker if you focus and train hard. The harder you work, the shorter the time your away from you friends." Sarutobi replied, knowing the boy well enough to know what motivated him. Naruto simply nodded at his advice.

"Well, now that we have the information that you have provided us, I guess you'd better tell your friends that you will be leaving them soon, though for a much happier purpose." Sarutobi told him.

"Meet me at the gates at eight tomorrow, Gaki." Jiraiya told him before disappearing to make final preparations.

Naruto and Rei left with Kakashi, both filling in the silence with small talk.

"You're being incredibly quiet." Kakashi observed.

"I'm thinking about what you said." Naruto replied.

"About telling the rest of the rookies about your ex-jinchuuriki status." Kakashi recalled.

"Yeah. If I don't do it now, then I'm not going to be able to do it for a few years." Naruto responded.

"You'll have Sakura and Sasuke's support. You know that right?" Kakashi offered.

"Yeah. Yeah I will." As Naruto thought about them the task suddenly became more possible knowing that he had their support.

XXX

By the time that Naruto entered the training area the group was falling down on the floor. They were training with Gai and his team in physical fitness and taijutsu. Whenever their bodies seemed to adapt to his gruelling workouts he just seemed to up the ante every time.

"Good you're all tired, that's gonna help me with this." Naruto said as he walked into the area. A few of the more energetic people managed to lift a hand to wave and try to say hello, though sounded like a groaning zombie.

"I just had the meeting with Baa-chan and a few others. While I was there it was decided that I am going to go on a journey to train to become more powerful. I leave tomorrow." Naruto started.

"Err…more like a couple of years…at least." Naruto responded sheepishly.

"What?" Sakura bolted straight into a sitting position.

"What about chuunin exams and all that?" Sasuke asked.

"Guess I won't have to worry about that for a while. Anyway, that's not really that important. I've got more to tell you. Shikamaru, Sakura and Sasuke already know, but I think I should at least tell you guys as well. We've all known each other long enough for me to trust you with this." Naruto replied simply.

Sakura and Sasuke eyed him for a second, knowing exactly what he was talking about, despite her lack of energy, Sakura moved closer, to show that he had her support, Sasuke, simply sat straighter and watched the rest of the group. Shikamaru remained unmoving.

"Ok, the first thing that you need to understand is that this is an S ranked village secret. You have my permission to talk amongst yourselves about this, but be very discreet. Talking about with this with anyone outside of the people you see here as well as you respective sensei will result in execution." Naruto told them, if he didn't have their attention before, then he had it now.

"A little over twelve years ago the Kyuubi attacked this village. We have always taught everyone that the Yondaime defeated it in battle, but he didn't…couldn't; it was way too powerful. He sealed the Kyuubi within a new born baby, it had to be a newborn, it was the only thing that could take the immense chakra and still survive." Naruto explained.

"And that new born was you." Shino stated rather than asked, Naruto simply nodded. Naruto waited patiently for some sort of outburst from someone, accusations, anything; but they all remained silent.

"Well? You guys heard me just then right?" Naruto asked tentatively.  
"We heard you but just…damn…what the hell do you say when you hear a thing like that?" Kiba ground out

"My opinion does not change." Shino replied in his usual monotone. "I house kikai within myself, but I am not a kikai." He finished.

"My opinion remains unchanged as well. You helped me more than you could know with my fight with Neji-niisan, there isn't anything monstrous about you." Hinata explained.

'Good thing she hasn't seen his dragon form.' Sasuke and Sakura thought almost simultaneously.

"There are a few more things I need to tell you. The first is that your own image of the Kyuubi exactly how she is." Naruto started.

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked.

"She was asked by the leader of a group called Akatsuki top join them. When she wouldn't she was placed under a powerful genjutsu that backfired, it made her fly into a rage, attacking everything in sight." Naruto explained.

"And how in hell could you know that?" Misao asked.

"I've spoken with her. She told me as much. In fact you've all met her; you all got on with her quite well." Naruto replied.

"We've met the met it?" Sai paled considerably at those words.

"Her. You've met her. Rei Kagirinai. The girl at the I Ibuki Kafe" Naruto responded, reminding them that Rei was not a 'thing'.

"The last thing is that I no longer house Rei. I struck a certain deal. I get all of her chakra in exchange she lives out her life as a normal person." Naruto explained.

"Well that sure as hell explains Akamaru's reaction when we first saw you. Could barely hide his f…"

"You're worried about Akamaru when the greatest of the nine demons has been freed? It makes the Yondaime's sacrifice in vain. After all the pain that the nine tails cause and you think that it fair that it be freed?" Ino burst out.

"The Yondaime's sacrifice was to save Konoha. As long as it exists, his sacrifice will never be in vain. And I told you already, she never did anything of her own will." Naruto replied.

"It destroyed…" She started again.

"Ino, shut up!" The words had come from Shikamaru, shocking most that he could have spoken so coldly.

"No Shika..." She tried to reason again, but was cut off again by Shikamaru.

"Remember our first B rank? Remember what you made that woman do? Remember what she woke up to when you left. Who was responsible?" Shikamaru replied coldly. Their team had promised to never bring that up again, but if she refused to relent then he would open old wounds.

"That's different." Ino tried to say, sounding slightly hysterical.

"It's no different. What it boils down to is that neither one had control over themselves at the time. End of story." Shikamaru tried to disillusion her.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sai asked, clearly as confused as the rest.

Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji looked between themselves before Shikamaru spoke again.

"I won't go into too many details, but we've done a B rank. The most I can tell you is that Ino took possession of a woman in the middle of the night and had her murder her own husband. She was found innocent for the murder, but she was devastated by her own husband's murder. Something that even though she knows technically isn't her own doing, she still feels responsible for, it was after all her own hand that ended his life, even if not her own will." Shikamaru explained.

"I'm going to head home. I have to pack. I guess I'll see you on a few years." Naruto announced sadly.

The group recommenced their training, this time in complete silence. Everybody had something on their minds, so they trained and tried to distil their thought at the same time.

XXX

Naruto thought about the admission that he had just made to his friends. He couldn't help but wonder if any of them felt any differently about him. It lifted his spirits to know that Shino and Hinata viewed him no differently and Kiba acted as though it didn't bother him either. Sai and Misao both looked as though they had a lot to contemplate, but it was Ino's reaction that had disappointed him. Indeed, it appeared that nobody truly had a problem with him having housed a demon at one point. It was as though they were struggling with their own preconceptions about what a demon was and what they were being told that Rei was like.

He had finished packing a while ago. He was doing his final checks before he decided to go and find a few people to say good bye to before he left.

When he left he took Rei with him, his first place to stop was the hospital. He knew that Haku had work today, so he would stop by there and also say good bye to Megumi and Shizune as well.

Naruto and Rei made idle chat as they wandered towards the hospital, mostly talking about who he had to visit before he left. Naturally Ichiraku's would be on top of that list; the remaining sensei that had not been there for his announcement would be in there as well. And now that he thought about it Tsunade and Sarutobi deserved a goodbye, he hadn't really said goodbye; rather told that he was going on a long term training mission.

Before they knew it they were at the hospital. They entered the hospital and made their way to Haku's usual training area. They were more than surprised to see not only Haku and Megumi as they had expected, but Sakura, Shizune and Tsunade.

"I guess that's final then. The both of them will study under Shizune until I deem them good enough to study directly under me." Tsunade announced.

"You're going to train under Baa-chan, Haku-chan?" Naruto asked as he walked into the corridor they were talking in.

"Naruto-kun? Yes, Tsunade-sama has graciously agreed to take me on when she thinks I'm ready. What brings you here?" She responded.

"I was actually looking for all of you. I said my goodbyes to the rookies, but there are still some people that I wanna say good bye to." Naruto responded.

"Don't you mean hello? You only just return from being held captive." She looked slightly confused as she enquired.

"No…I do mean goodbye. I'm leaving to go on a training mission. I'll be gone for at least a couple of years." Naruto informed her.

Rei saw the look in her eyes; it looked as though her spirit had been crushed again.

"It's OK. You and I can keep each other company while he's away." Rei offered.

"Haku, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Everything here has been finalised." Megumi offered.

"Thank you Megumi-sensei." Haku replied with a bow.

"I wanted to say good bye to you as well, Megumi." Naruto extended his hand.

"A handshake? You crazy kid! I've been treating you since you were in diapers." She laughed at him before crushing him in a hug.

When she released him she passed him to Shizune and Tsunade.

"Now then, Gaki. You go train hard, we'll look after things here, but don't you dare let that pervert corrupt you." Tsunade warned with a steely glare, Naruto could only quail and gulp under her steely gaze, until her expression changed and she too enveloped him in a hug.

Shizune was next.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure Kakashi stays out of trouble. I'll look after him in you absence."

"Thanks, I don't want him going back to old habits just because I'm not around." Naruto told her before he turned to Haku and Rei. "C'mon, I've gotta go tell Kurenai-sensei and Anko-sensei." Naruto told them.

"Lunch time with genin training duties…they'll be at the Dango Palace." Tsunade told them.

And so they went. True to Tsunade's words they were at the Dango Palace. They were with Yugao and her fiancé Hayate. Kurenai and Yugao warned Naruto to not turn into a miniature version of Jiraiya or there would be consequences. When both Hayate and Yugao found that Naruto had intentions of bettering his sword style they both challenged him to a swordplay match upon his return.

Anko…well Anko made the usual awkward statements about him travelling the world with a legendary pervert and learning a few techniques not related to ninja life, wagging her eyebrows at Rei and Haku; both of whom flushed a bright red. Surprisingly she had a serious moment where she wished him luck before returning to her light hearted, almost childish ways.

Their last stop was Ichiraku's Ramen. They stopped by to tell Teuchi and Ayame. Teuchi was disappointed to hear that his best customer was leaving for a few years; Ayame was displeased to hear her father's reason for his crocodile tears and smacked him on the head with a frypan.

She apologised for her father, wished him luck and made him a deluxe ramen on the house as a goodbye gift. When he left he promised that they would be among the first people to know that he had returned.  
The last place to visit was the Sarutobi estate. As Naruto walked through the grounds he realised that he should have told Konohamaru, not to mention entirely forgetting to find Asuma Sarutobi, his remaining Jounin instructor.

The goodbyes there were short, but heartfelt none-the-less. Konohamaru looked as though he were ready to cry, but withheld his tears. Asuma simply shook his hand wished him luck and told him that he was in for the experience of a life time 'After all, the last guy he trained made it to Hokage' Asuma joked, knowing Naruto's aspirations. As for Hiruzen, he paid Naruto one for the biggest compliments he had ever received saying 'Now you truly are following in the footsteps of your father'. For Naruto to be compared to his own hero, it was something that made his heart swell.

The trio wandered around the rest of the day, with no real objective, simply to have fun together for the first time in a long time. After all, they wouldn't get this chance for a few years to come.

By the end of the night Haku had returned to her apartment, before turning in for the night she had promised Naruto that she would come and see him off in the morning. She gave him a good night hug before watching them leave, then heading inside for the night and turning in.

XXX

It had been a restless night for Naruto. He could barely sleep; he was excited and nervous at the same time. He was embarking on a journey to become more powerful, but was also sadden that he had to leave at the same time. Jiraiya had stopped by and told him that the preparations were complete. There he had asked his sensei why he wanted to leave so soon after his return. The answer was simple.

"You need to disappear and not return until you're capable of handling the people coming after you. Akatsuki, Orochimaru and Kami only knows who else with a grudge. It'll be safer for all involved if you weren't in the village for a good while." Jiraiya explained, for once not treating Naruto like a child.

All too soon it was morning and Naruto was up. Despite having little sleep, he was full of nervous energy, so he felt completely awake. He picked up his pack and made his way down to the gates with Kakashi and Rei. He was hardly surprised to Haku, Shizune and Tsunade there, but was thrown of kilter when he saw the rest of the Rookies as well as their sensei.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you were coming to see me off." Naruto called out to them as he approached.

"Don't know what you're talking about." Ami stated, though she had a grin.

"We were just doing our usual laps around the village." Misao continued.

"When we saw Haku-chan and had to stop to say hello. You being here is merely coincidence." Hinata finished.

Naruto looked at them for the longest moment.

"You guys have to be the worst liars in history. There isn't any way in hell that any of the sensei would let you take a break in the middle of a routine." Naruto countered with an equally large grin.

"I told you he wasn't that much of an idiot." Shikamaru drawled from somewhere near the back.

"It was worth a shot Kiba replied." Kiba grinned before he got serious. "Look, we didn't get a great chance to talk yesterday, but we want you to know that even after what you told us, your still gonna be one of our pack." Kiba told him.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me." Naruto replied, slightly choked up.

"We'll look after Rei and Haku while you're gone. We won't let them be lonely." It was Ino that spoke.

"Does that mean that…" Naruto began.

"Don't get the wrong idea…actions speak louder than words is all. I'll give her the chance she deserves." Ino clarified.

There adults that looked confused, but among the rookies there was a general understanding.  
"C'mon, Gaki. I wanna leave before the sunsets." Jiraiya grunted at Naruto. Naruto nodded and was about to turn away before he was embraced by a teary Haku and Rei.

"Keep safe; don't give us a reason to worry." Haku said gently.

"Come back to us soon." Rei said after her, before both kissed a corner of him lips.

Naruto had a silly grin plastered on his face as he made his way to Jiraiya.

"Oh and Jiraiya…if we find he's in any way…tainted…"Tsunade began.

"Pain…" Haku continued.

"Lots and lots of pain…" Rei joined in.

"Demonic illusions…" Kurenai promised.

"Accidentally botched medical procedures…" Shizune also made her say, all five ladies with demonic auras around them.

"And even more pain." Anko said brightly, her mood in total contrast to the rest.

"I can understand the rest, but even you Anko?" Jiraiya asked.

"If they're all gonna have fun why can't I?" She responded childishly with a slight pout.

"Let's get the hell outta here, Gaki." Jiraiya called to Naruto from down the road.

"Huh?! ERO-SENNIN WAIT UP, YOU ERO-BAKA!" Naruto called as he chased after his sensei.

The group left at the gate was chuckling.

"Now I believe we had some stamina and evasion training to continue…" Anko recalled.

Like a shot the genin were gone. The remainder of the adults slowly moved about to go onto their usual duties, slowly allowing the idea to sink in that they wouldn't see the duo for the next few years.

XXX

Chapter End

Again, apologies for such a delayed chapter. I can't promise an update with any speed till my life sorts itself out again, I will try though. I'll also apologise for again for the last few chapters…many have said that they weren't that fantastic and I entirely agree with them. At this point I'm simply posting to keep the story moving. I will have to edit and rewrite this one day.

Any questions, complaints or otherwise please do review, other than that don't worry about it…cya round.

Cheers,  
Fish


	20. Chapter 20

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 19**

Hi all, sorry for the long delay in updates.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
XXX

"Man, could she have given us a more irritating assignment?" Naruto whined not for the first time.

"You said the same thing about our last mission as well." Jiraiya groused.

"Yeah, but I think I actually mean it this time. The last one was just boring as all hell. This woman may actually drive me insane." Naruto replied.

"I thought you loved her movies, here I thought you'd be ecstatic to be guarding her." Jiraiya reminded him of his adoration of the princess gale movies. "Besides, you're a ninja; if you can't find her then you may need to consider a change of career."

"Oh shut up. One of my clones found her five minutes ago. Finding a drunk civilian, what a challenge." Naruto complained yet again.

"She's drunk?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah, found her at the local bar, she's unconscious at the moment." Naruto informed.

"Good. We may as well set out now. If she's drunk she can't resist and once she's aboard the ship she can't really go anywhere." Jiraiya reasoned as he moved off to find the actress' manager.

A short conversation later and the pair along with the actress Yukie Fujikaze and her manage Sandayuu were boarding a ship set for the land hidden in the snow.

XXX

She realised that she'd hit the bottle hard the previous night, but she didn't think she went this far.

"Ungh…shoulda taken it a bit easier last night…it feels like the whole room is rocking." Yukie thought out loud.

"No, it's not your head, the room really is rocking, we're on a boat bound for snow country." Naruto told her. That got her attention; she shot out of bed, only to collapse to the ground, a night of heavy drinking and a rocking room not the best combination.

"Why the hell are we going there?" She demanded.

"To film the next Princess Gale movie. Apparently your manager is worried about hostiles in the area so he hired leaf ninja to guard you. That's how I got lumped into this." Naruto explained.

"You…you got l…lumped! I'm the one stuck with a kid and a lecher as my guard detail." Yukie practically screamed.

"You got a good deal. This is classed as a B rank and you've got one of the sannin as part of your guard. Most people would be elated."

"Sannin?" She asked unfamiliar with the term.

"A title granted to three of the strongest ninja to ever come out of my village. One is the Hokage, one is my sensei and the other became and S ranked criminal wanted in nearly every nation of the elemental countries."

"Even so…we should just turn back. There is nothing there for me. There are other locations that we could film on." She snapped.

"It's not me that you need to speak to about our destination. I'm just being asked to keep you alive through our stay in Yuki no Kuni, Princess."

"You really are just a child, 'Princess' is just a title in the movie, it's not real." She mocked.

"You're right, 'Princess' is the wrong word, isn't it, Daimyo-sama." Naruto retorted, watching carefully to gauge her response.

"What? How do you know that?" Her tone completely changed, her voice now barely above a whisper.

"My sensei is a man of many talents. You called him a lecher and that's more than fair, in fact it's an understatement, but never underestimate his skills as a ninja." Naruto replied.

"Then I assume you know my actual name." Yukie asked.

"Koyuki Kazahana." Naruto responded casually.

"Then I would appreciate if you and your sensei kept that information to yourself." She told him sharply before leaving the room.

XXX

Naruto watched the filming with a keen eye. Before any weapon was used in a scene both he and his sensei insisted on checking it over. It would be a simple matter for any ninja to swap over the props for real weapons. While it seemed a nuisance to the crew, Naruto knew firsthand how ugly a mission could get if one didn't pay attention. His first real mission had been proof enough that inattention could lead to mission failure and death.

During the two weeks at sea all of the filming sequences requiring the boat deck had been filmed ahead of schedule, so most of the filming crew were enjoying some down time. In this time Jiraiya increased his presence as part of Koyuki's guard detail in order to allow Naruto to get some training in, as was the main point of his time away from Konoha.

Jiraiya had seen that Naruto's jutsu repertoire was almost entirely offensive and decided to teach him_ Doton: Doryuheki_, an earth technique particularly useful for defending multiple targets such as a large guard mission or else a team situation. However, Naruto was not allowed to only practice the new jutsu, but still had to work on his physical abilities as well.

More and more Jiraiya had noticed in battle that Naruto was moving away from taijutsu to kenjutsu. It was starting to reflect in his training as well, where Naruto would neglect to practice his taijutsu in preference to kenjutsu. While it was good to master a skill, Jiraiya made sure to drill in that Naruto should ensure that it wasn't his only skill, if ever he got disarmed or he met a better sword user he would need something as a backup.

When the crew heard Jiraiya handing out instructions for the day many of the non-ninja laughed, thinking that the tasks set were impossible. They stopped laughing when they actually saw him complete the water walking exercises on the sea while fighting his clones, and then the same again while practicing kenjutsu.

XXX

"We're here. At long last. Do you see all these beautiful locations? This will surely be the backdrop for my greatest 'Princess Gale movie'" The director cried out in jubilation. Many of his crew failed to share his enthusiasm, preferring to complain about the bitter cold instead.

Koyuki didn't look overly pleased, though that may have been for an entirely different reason.

"I'd rather be dead then back in this accursed land." Koyuki muttered to herself under her breath.

"That can be arranged, Koyuki-hime." A voice called from high on one of the surrounding ice plateaus.

Before any of the civilians had a chance to react, the voice's owner went through some swift hand seals before six ice stalagmites shot out of the ground at Koyuki. Naruto had seen the hand seals and made to protect the in disguise Daimyo. When he saw the jutsu's effect he had a split second to pick Koyuki up and perform a chakra enhanced jump out of danger.

Midflight he was intercepted by another ninja, with Koyuki in his arms there was no way for him to dodge or perform jutsu when the man came at them with a kunai.

"Gotcha." He called as he made to stab Naruto. Naruto made the next most viable option and dropped his objective. Koyuki free fell for five metres before she was caught by another Naruto.

The ninja in the air stabbed at Naruto, his aim true, striking him in the heart. Naruto just smiled for a moment longer before exploding in his adversary's face.

"Mizore!" A third voice called, this time, moving to meet with their teammate who had been sent flying.

"Hold your ground Fubuki!" The first person called.

"Rouga, the chakra suits don't protect against co..." She started.

"SHUT UP! Do you _want_ to give us away?" He demanded, cutting her off from revealing the suit's weak point. However it was too little too late, Jiraiya had put two and two together.

"You can wrap an egg in cotton wool all you want, throw it hard enough and it'll crack. Concussion. That's the weak point." Jiraiya said with a wry grin.

"Fubuki, take the brat, get the treasure when you're done then report to Dotou-sama. Mizore and I will take the old man." Their apparent leader Rouga ordered before crafting his own justu.

"_Hyouton: Ikkaku Hakugei." _He called, a massive ice narwhal leaping out of the water and set to crash between Naruto and Jiraiya. Naruto had other ideas and quickly began crafting his own jutsu, pumping so much chakra into the jutsu that there was almost a risk of overloading.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"_ Naruto held the jutsu for as long as there was a white whale left to be melted.

"That's not supposed to be possible.' Fubuki cried in disbelief.

Jiraiya took her moment of distraction to get in close behind her and land a powerful high thrust kick to the back of her head with his geta sandals. She skidded across the ice before getting up groggily, Jiraiya was about to press his advantage but was stopped by a wall of ice.

"Fubuki, Mizore, we're pulling out." Rouga called out. He was already helping up a very groggy Mizore and Fubuki was crafting hand seals before she disappeared under the ice.

"AND CUT!" The movie director called out. "Tell me you got all of that." He called to his cameramen.

"Yes sir, every single detail." One called out while another just gave the thumbs up.

"Excellent." The director called out, rubbing his hands together, likely from glee, rather than trying to warm them up.

XXX

The filming crew had some travelling to do and rather than travel through the night, they decided to camp out for the night.

"Will someone go and get Fuji? She can't sit in her tent all day and sulk, she needs to eat." The director called out to the crew in general.

There was a murmur of dissent as many of the crew members would rather not go and have their heads bitten off. One brave soul eventually moved off to find her. He came back calling to the group.

"She's gone. I can't find her anywhere." He cried out frantically.

"Relax; she left camp a while ago. I think she's trying to see if she can escape somehow." Jiraiya said to the group.

"Relax, she could be in serious trouble and you're just sitting there." Sandayuu retorted harshly.

"Both myself and my student, Naruto, are with her. I'm simply a clone. If this group is attacked then when I'm dispelled the real me will know about it and I'll be able to come back and help." Jiraiya replied pleasantly.

"I'm sorry. I appear to have underestimated you." Sandayuu apologised.

"It's not the first and hopefully won't be the last." Jiraiya responded; though for the life of them, the crew couldn't work out why he _wanted_ to be underestimated.

XXX

**Elsewhere**

"Why are you following me?" Koyuki demanded. Naruto had followed Koyuki inside a cave that was currently providing them some protection against a bitter snow storm.

"Because I'm being paid to." Naruto responded.

"Then your services are no longer required, you can go now." Koyuki ordered.

"Unfortunately our contract is with Sandayuu and not you." At Naruto's response Koyuki just growled in frustration.

"Why are you so against returning to you country." Naruto asked. At first he thought that he wasn't going to get an answer or that she might even be building up a rage over such an intrusive question, but she did respond eventually.

"Years ago my father was the Daimyo. The Daimyo was trusted with the secret that would lead to the prosperity of Yuki no Kuni. Supposedly this treasure around my neck is the secret to bringing spring to this land of everlasting winter, though no one has ever actually tested it out. There was a civil war more than ten years ago, lead by my uncle. He killed my father to gain possession of this trinket." Koyuki answered as she palmed the octagonal necklace.

"You hate this place because of what you lost here?" Naruto asked to confirm.

"Yes, the last time I was here I was being whisked away by a boy with silver hair and a team of dogs he had summoned." Koyuki confided.

"Nii-chan?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Your brother?" Koyuki asked.

"Yes, no, yes. Kakashi-niichan adopted me when I was five." Naruto responded.

"When you were five? But you're what 13 now? Kakashi couldn't have been very old himself when he took you on."

"He wasn't. I think he was about sixteen or seventeen." Naruto replied.

"That's some responsibility. Surely someone else could have adopted, why did he feel so compelled?" She asked, not realising that she'd just stepped on a minefield of village secrets.

"I can't tell you that." Naruto answered.

"Don't know, won't or not allowed?" She pressed.

"Won't mostly, though I don't think my sensei would like me to either." He responded.

"Could your sensei tell me?" She asked, wondering if it was a clearance thing.

"He could, but he would be branded a traitor." Koyuki gasped at the statement. "Without giving too much away, if anyone other than the Hokage, our village leader, or myself told anyone, they'd be executed for treason." He saw the wonder in her eyes; she was looking at him as though he was a puzzle waiting to be solved.

"If you really are that interested, hit me up when I'm Hokage. I might be allowed to tell you by then." Naruto told her, something that she took to heart. She decided to change topic slightly.

"So is that why you try so hard? To repay what Kakashi has done for you?" She asked.

"Sort of. I want to protect all my friends. I will defend my village, and one day I _will_ be Hokage, and I'll have the responsibility of looking after the entire village as though it was my own family." He said after a moment's thought, deciding how best to sum up his feelings.

"I see." Was all she could manage, though for what was possibly the first time, he saw her truly smile.

"Do you have a large family at home?" She asked.

"Sort of. I have someone that could be a distant cousin that I met only within the last year. Other than that, my family consists of people that inserted themselves in place of regular family members. Tsunade acts as a mother, her apprentice Shizune is like a big sister. Then you have some of the other jounin that were around when I was younger...I suppose that you could consider them crazy aunts and uncles. And then there's Haku-chan and Rei-chan."

"Who are they substitutes for?" She asked, recognising the look that came across his face when he mentioned them.

That made him stop and think for a moment before he answered.

"They don't replace anyone. But they're still very important to me." He responded softly.

XXX

While Naruto was talking with Koyuki in the cave the very people were going about their lives in Konoha, lives that had become considerably duller since Naruto had left on his training mission.

Tsunade was currently talking with Shikamaru.

"That's really as far as you had to push her to get to this state?" Tsunade was amazed. Understandably there were emotional pressure points for every shinobi, when pressed the right way could leave them distracted in battle, but to get this response from a person with what seemed to be such little pressuring; more over from one of Orochimaru's elite guards who would have seen countless horrors while in the snake's servitude.

Tsunade had managed to heal some of the physical and emotional scars that were still present, but there was much that only time could deal with. For now, the fact that she could respond and hold simple conversation was a vast improvement to the monologues she previously held, talking to her long dead mother and continually apologising.

Tsunade walked into the room, it would be the second time that she had tried to interrogate Tayuya. The previous time Tsunade grew frustrated with the girl's foul language; she warned the girl several times that she would wash out her mouth with soap if she refused to stop swearing. Of course Tayuya adamantly refuse to listen, so midway through Tsunade ordered an ANBU to bring her some soap and water. Tsunade kept washing until Tayuya stopped swearing. She felt a little regret that she'd had to waste two bars of soap that day.

As Tsunade approached Tayuya glared at the woman but wisely decided to keep her mouth closed.

"The last time we tried this it didn't end so well. I'm willing to give you a second chance. I wanna know where all of Orochimaru's hidden bases are." Tsunade offered.

"I'm not telling you anything. I do and I'm dead. If I keep my mouth shut then he might just spring me from this joint." Tayuya told her. Tsunade wore a small grin before answering.

"I think you're missing the point. If you don't tell us then you _will _die. Moreover, to Orochimaru you _are dead. _At least for now any way. If he did discover you were alive he would have sent some one by now to assassinate you, so you couldn't pass on any information." Tsunade clarified.

"Execution?" She asked.

"Well, yes. After all, you did assist in the assault on the previous Hokage. Believe me if that assassination had succeeded you wouldn't be sitting here, you'd already be dead. Not to forget to mention that you were part of the team that kidnapped Sasuke Uchiha, a clan heir. And finally there is the fact that due to your efforts he was able to abduct Naruto Uzumaki for a time." Tsunade pointed out the litany of crimes against her.

"If you've got all that against me then why even keep me alive?" Tayuya asked.

"Because the councils deem that the information you contain is worth keeping you alive. If the information is valuable enough and accurate it may even see you to an acquittal and a life as a Konoha citizen if you so wished." Tsunade laid everything out on the table.

"Wait, what? You're not going to kill me after you get your information?" She was shocked. Once a person had outlived their usefulness then they were killed swiftly unless Orochimaru had interest in keeping them as a test subject.

"Before I answer and give anything away, can you be certain of Orochimaru's actions about me?" She tried.

"Sure, it helps when you knew him as a genin; the only three people that would know better are Jiraiya, Sarutobi-sensei and Orochimaru himself." She confirmed.

"Sarutobi-_sensei? _What is your name?" She asked, finally piecing things together.

"Forgive me I haven't actually introduced myself have I. Tsunade Senju, Godaime Hokage." She announced.

Her name announced, Tayuya seemed to be viewing the elder woman in a new light.

Outside Shikamaru watched as Tsunade managed to get the information out of Tayuya with little effort. A little leverage, a decent deal and it was a simple issue.

After an hour Tsunade walked out knowing a great deal more about the secret locations of some of Orochimaru's bases, sadly she didn't know all of them, but what she had provided was sufficient. Moreover, she had not just provided locations of the hideouts, but the types of traps inside, what to look for and how to disarm them.

While she walked to her next engagement she was joined by Haku and Sakura, who she was actually meeting up with to oversee both their training and Shizune's mentoring abilities.

"Hello you two." She greeted.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama." The girls responded in unison.

"Been keeping busy? Balancing missions, training and a social life isn't all that easy." Tsunade enquired good naturedly.

"No missions for me, but the hospital work has been keeping me busy. At night I normally get to see Rei-chan before we both collapse." Haku offered.

"When did you two start living together? And what is Rei-san doing these days?" Sakura asked.

"She's working at Ichiraku's ramen. She wants to learn how to be a good housewife and that starts with cooking. She wants to learn how to cook ramen to start with." Haku informed, a slight smile about her face as she remembered how terrible Rei had been on her first try.

"Practicing for the future?" Tsunade joked.

"Yes, that's why we started living together." She replied, missing the jibe. Sakura missed a step after hearing that and face-planted into the ground, Tsunade just sweat dropped and elected not to say anything further.

At the same time Rei was currently in the kitchens of Ichiraku's calling out to Ayame.

"Ayame! I think I'm getting it! That small device on the roof sounds like it's cheering me on." Rei called to Ayame.

"That's not cheering you on, it's a smoke alarm. I thought I left you to start boiling the water, where is the smoke coming from?" She wondered. Haku had warned her that she as bad, but surely burning water shouldn't even be possible.

"It did boil. It's evaporated away." Rei retorted. All Ayame could muster was a face palm and ground out 'Mendokusai'.

XXX

Jiraiya received a sudden influx of information as he realised that his clone had just dispelled. Nadare, Mizore and Fubuki were attacking the filming crew, demanding Koyuki. He cast a quick glance at Naruto and Koyuki before deciding to leave a bunshin to help Naruto and inform him if this was a ruse.

Naruto and Koyuki were still talking in the tunnel an hour later. They had sat and talked about anything and everything that came across their minds. Their conversation came to an abrupt end when the ground suddenly started rumbling. There was a light at the end of the cave that was slowly starting to get more intense. Naruto could also hear something rushing towards them that sounded rather large. Rather than wait for the thing to be upon them with limited space to manoeuvre, he picked up Koyuki and began running.

"You'll never make it!" She cried in desperation as she watched the massive contraption close in on them.

"Like hell!" Naruto called back taking chakra out of his bracers and pumping extra into his legs in order to increase his speed." He could see the end of the cave in sight. With one last ditch attempt he really began pushing it, diving off to the right as soon as he was clear of the cave's mouth.

When they both came out into the light it became apparent that the snow storm had ended, and with the sunlight filtering through the still grey sky they could see the train that had nearly ended their lives. The machine was starting to slow down as it turned a U-bend. It finally came to a stop. Without warning one of the cargo carriages opened its shutters revealing a multitude of small compartments, each just big enough for a child to place its hand inside. The next thing that was head was a mechanical clicking before hundreds of kunai came whizzing out at high speed, right at them. Naruto's body reacted almost automatically, using the jutsu that came to his mind first.

"_Doton: Doryuheki!"_ He exclaimed. The wall went up not a moment too soon, the kunai colliding with it with enough force to embed up to the hilt. Neither of Naruto's elemental affinities were earth and having only just learnt the technique, he decided it was nowhere near strong enough to survive such an onslaught decided to create a clone to pick up Koyuki and get out of there.

As he expected as soon as he jumped clear of the wall he was immediately targeted by an ice jutsu.

"_Hyouton: Tsubame fubuki_." Fubuki called as swallows made of ice flew directly at the clone and Koyuki. Being in mid air they had no way of dodging so Naruto made a clone which threw him and Koyuki right at the ground. Clear of the swallows the clone and Naruto stood upright, only to be targeted by yet another jutsu, this time ice spears coming out of the ground.

The clone picked up Koyuki again an began bounding away when it realised that it had been played like a fiddle, right in his path was Nadare, the leader of the Snow team. Naruto saw the predicament and moved to Koyuki's aid, but realised that the Ice swallows that had missed his clone on the first pass were now wheeling around and cutting his access to the clone and Koyuki.

Back in the camp Jiraiya had encountered Mizore, who was using nothing more than clones to portray his entire team being there. When he saw Jiraiya he didn't bother to conceal his location, rather rushing out to meet the toad nin in a taijutsu match.

"You're not gonna get the one up on us this time, you old fart." He called out as he rushed in.

"Where are your teammates?" Jiraiya asked.

"Taking care of the brat and getting the necklace off the girl by now." He called casually, there was no issue, he would win this time, he was just playing around before.

"Then it seems as though I can't waste any time with you then if my pupil is dealing with two against one odds." Jiraiya announced.

He saw the leading punch and slapped it aside, Mizore may have had raw power but he had no finesse, being on a team with Tsunade meant that he was more than adequately prepared. His strike parried Mizore made to follow up but received a powerful strike to his chest with the heel of Jiraiya's palm. The strike might have cracked an ordinary man's sternum, but with the protective armour in place all it did was send the man flying before shaking him up when he came to a sudden stop on a rocky out crop.

'I don't have time for this crap. Naruto'll be fine but if they kill Koyuki while he's preoccupied then it'll be mission over.'

"Sorry, I really can't play around today. _Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari._" Jiraiya called. Both warriors were now inside what appeared to be fleshy corridor.

"Enjoy your last moments of life as you become food for the Iwagama." Jiraiya said calmly as Mizore was slowly engulfed by the rock that had turned into a fleshy wall that he was leaning against. As Jiraiya walked out he tried to ignore the look of abject terror as well as the cries of horror from his opponent. Deciding to show the man some mercy and give him a swift end before he walked out he threw a kunai into his head, aiming for the eye socket, the only place on the man that was truly left exposed.

Once out of the toad's stomach Jiraiya rushed off to aid his apprentice. As he rushed to his apprentice saw Nadare rising into the air on a line coming from a blimp from over head, an unconscious. Naruto was trying to reach the tail of the rope before is rose out of reach, but being held at bay by relentless attacks from what could only be the remaining member of the snow team, the kunoichi Fubuki.

Jiraiya new that Naruto could hold his own, so he discretely tried to reach the rope undetected, but was swiftly noticed by Fubuki in the open field. She quickly used a wind jutsu, but instead of aiming at Jiraiya, cut the bottom of the rope off a short way under where Nadare was holding on.

Naruto cursed, before turning to his sensei.

"I can still pursue if you cover me." Naruto called.

"Don't bother. That thing won't be landing anytime soon. The only reason we captured Koyuki was because Dotou-sama ordered it. Once he has from her what he needs, she will be killed." Fubuki told him.

Both Jiraiya and Naruto ignored her, Jiraiya giving Naruto the nod telling him that he was ready.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu." _Naruto intoned after going through the necessary hand seals, summoning a large phoenix. He climbed on its back before they both set off to the air ship at his command. Fubuki was momentarily stunned by the boy for the second time.

"Ero-sennin, try to find out how they are able to combine chakra to make the hyouton. If it's natural, then they might be relatives of Haku-chan." He called as he flew away. As he flew away Fubuki tried to intercept him with her ice swallows technique again, but was forced to abandon the jutsu when Jiraiya threw a kunai at her, quickly multiplying it as he used the _kage kunai _technique.

"So. Wanna tell me what the idiot was raving about as he left?" Fubuki made small conversation, she couldn't reach the boy now, nor would she herself be able to reach the airship unless it landed or it picked her up.

"There is a girl back in Konoha that has the natural ability to combine fuuton and suiton into hyouton. If it really is a natural ability then you may well be her relative. If not, then there is no need for me to hold back. I can kill you as well." Jiraiya explained.

"As well? So you got Mizore?" She calculated.

"Yes. I killed him before coming here to help Naruto. I had no choice, I was worried that he'd try and kill the camera crew." Jiraiya explained. It had long been the teachings of his sensei to show mercy where possible. It was for that reason that Jiraiya chose to kill Mizore swiftly.

"He would not have harmed them. We have received no orders regarding them so we leave them alone. A shinobi of the snow always follows whatever the Daimyo's orders may be." Fubuki explained.

"And if I were to tell you that Koyuki is technically the Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni?"

"She isn't. Actions speak louder than words, or in this case, titles. Even though Dotou-sama's methods are questionable at times, he still acts to ensure the best interests of the Land of Snow." Fubuki argued.

"You say that you follow the Daimyo's orders then you attack the woman who is by technicality the true Daimyo, before arguing that she isn't due to her cowardice as a child." Jiraiya reasoned, though his opponent would have none of it.

"Say what you will. The fact still remains that my loyalty remains to the one who will lead Snow, not to the one who makes excuses and runs away from her duty." Fubuki said with finality, blind to her own self contradictions.

"Well, let's get this started. I have a pupil to assist and you have a master to serve." Jiraiya mentioned with a light voice.

Fubuki didn't bother responding, the simply launched into her trademark attack, ice swallows.

The swallows were easily avoided by Jiraiya, but on the second pass, instead of just striking at him, they surrounded the sannin. As the encompassed Jiraiya Fubuki changed her hand signs, the ice swallows exploding and sending razor sharp ice shards in every direction.

She smiled when she saw her attack hit, being scratched by this particular attack resulted in frostbite within minute, then eventual numbness and loss of movement, her smile disappeared when she saw the shinobi disappear in a puff of smoke to be replaced with a giant snow man. He was simply playing around with her, and it made her furious.

"You'll have to do better than." Jiraiya taunted from behind as he kicked her again, the same way he had the first time. This time however, instead of crashing into and ice outcrop she crashed straight into a snow hill, a considerably softer landing.

She formed an ice katana in her hand before pursuing him with kenjutsu. She was really starting to get frustrated with this old man.

"You know, you're actually fairly good at kenjutsu. Unfortunately so are my pupil and my ex-teammate, Orochimaru." Jiraiya taunted again.

She ignored the compliment as her she finally recognised who her adversary was.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin?" She tried, realising if he really was her enemy, then he could have easily killed her by now.

"So one of my loyal readers? Or perhaps you'd like to pose for one of m upcoming novels?" He continued joking. "Now that you know who I am, why don't you just let me pass? It'll make both of our lives easier." He requested.

"Not a chance. As long as there is a threat to the Daimyo's life a snow ninja will persist in their defence until either the threat or the snow ninja is dead." Fubuki cried out, renewing her efforts.

She threw out two kunai, each with an exploding tag attached, ignoring convention of not using such jutsu in such an area for fear of avalanches. The kunai landed in front and to the left of Jiraiya, yet he had already jumped out of harm's way. As soon as he was clear he was being chased yet again by her ice swallows jutsu. Fubuki tried and tried again to his Jiraiya with the technique but to no avail.

Then it just stopped, the swallows had settled for keeping him on the one place by circling around him. While maintaining her concentration on the swallows, she used what she hoped would be her winning jutsu.

After a few quick hand seals she plunged her hands into the now loose snow.

"Hyouton: Ice tornado no jutsu." The wind whipped up around, and the soft snow that his feet had sunk into had hardened into a thick ice and was now growing up his leg finishing at his knee. Finally, the ice swallows exploded, but the shards were caught by the now cyclonic winds whipping around Jiraiya.

She had played her cards well, against most others and she would have had a victory, but against one of Jiraiya's calibre it was nowhere near. Jiraiya just smiled as he used his _Hari Jizo_ jutsu, this time using enough chakra to cover his face as well as the rest of his body. The ice shards that promised to tear him to shreds did little more than bounce harmlessly of his now rock hard hair.

Fubuki was now panting, she'd expended a decent amount of chakra with her other techniques, but that manoeuvre was essentially three combined into one, making it all the more taxing. When she ended her jutsu, she saw a spiny white mass. The mass slowly shrank until it was back to Jiraiya's regular hair length.

"A good technique, but easily guarded against. And by the look of it you've used almost all of your chakra." Jiraiya observed as the ice around his leg started to melt rapidly, with no chakra to maintain the jutsu.

"I can still fight, even if I can't use nin or gen jutsu, I can still use taijutsu." She declared as she ran at him rather sloppily due to fatigue, unfortunately she wasn't fast enough to avoid his next jutsu.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_ Jiraiya called after going through the necessary hand seals. A horse sized toad appeared, lashing out a long tongue before taking Fubuki into its mouth.

"You can stay in there for a while. That toad's saliva is like an anaesthetic to its victims. You stay there. I'm gonna go help Naruto." Jiraiya called to her, already moving to where he had seen Naruto disappear.

XXX

Naruto had landed on top of the airship. It had been tempting to bring the thing down by simply bursting the air inside, but decided against it, not knowing the exact reaction and possibly jeopardising Koyuki's life. He resolved to find a way into the ship, he managed to find the occupants box on the underside of the balloon and let himself in through the window. Little did he know that his movements were being watched in the helm of the air ship. Dotou Kazahana and Rouga Nadare were watching him as he moved through the air ship looking for Koyuki. Unfortunately he was slowly making his way to the front of the ship, where the controls as well as Dotou and Nadare were located.

"Shall we prepare a welcome for him?" Rouga asked his master.

"Yes, let's. I would like to try out that chakra syphoning tool we developed." Dotou replied.

Naruto opened the door to the next room, and walked through. He was immediately slammed against the wall before a strange device was attached right where the core of his chakra would be. The device started immediately, siphoning his chakra at an incredible rate.

"You really should be more careful. Carelessness could mean the end of your mission and your life as a ninja." Nadare taunted.

Naruto just smiled at him before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Nadare just cursed, he was truly getting sick of all the clones the boy could make as the device that was attached clattered uselessly to the ground. Naruto streaked into the room, picked up the device tried to attach it to Dotou. Unfortunately his efforts were for noting as he heard a dull clink; Dotou himself was also wearing chakra armour. Before Naruto had time to react he was slammed into the wall, the device reattached, this time to the real Naruto. The drain was noticeable immediately, but it wasn't paralysing, after all, the thing could only absorb at a certain rate. None the less, Naruto slumped over, pretending to grunt in pain.

"Take him to the holding cells. He can join my niece." Dotou ordered, Nadare moving to comply immediately.

Naruto was taken to the holding cells, where he was kept across from Koyuki.

"What have you done to him?" She demanded.

"Your body guard isn't as good as he thought he was." Nadare said as he placed Naruto in chains before walking off.

Naruto waited a full two minutes slumped on the floor before jumping off the floor to his feet.

"You're ok? You made me worry for nothing." She sounded genuinely offended.

"Well if I hadn't faked he never would have been brought here." He responded.

"What is that thing?" She asked, wishing to be able to point but unable as her hands were in chains as well.

"It's absorbing my chakra." Naruto explained before going silent, focussing even more chakra on the device. It gave a burst of electricity before it fell to the ground.

"What happened?" She asked amazed.

"I overloaded it. Took more chakra than I thought it would, that thing is damn good at what it does." Naruto explained.

"Impressive what you ninja can do with your chakra." She said, slowly gaining more respect for the genin.

"Don't be fooled. If any other ordinary ninja tried that they'd be dead. I just have massive chakra reserves." Naruto explained.

"Still, impressive." She pressed. She watched as he made a bunshin without the use of hand seals, the jutsu so familiar by now that it was second nature to mould the chakra that way. The clone then pulled out a kunai before using it to pick the lock. While Naruto gathered himself after being freed it started to work on the door. When the door had swung open it dismissed itself as the original walked out, and performing the same process in reverse on Koyuki; the door first, then the manacles.

"Let's go." Naruto told her.

"Wait, they got my necklace. We can't leave without it." Koyuki told Naruto.

"You mean this?" Naruto pulled her trinket out.

"How did you get that?"

"I switched it while at sea. My sensei asked me to, but no tell you. Sorry." Naruto held it back to her.

"Then the one that Dotou has?" She tried.

"A fake, one of my clones transformed into it." Naruto answered plainly. "More importantly, my sensei says that this is a key. Do you know where he'll be headed to try and use it?" He asked.

"Why." She asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"So we can be the ones to dog his movement for once, rather than let him set the scene every time." Naruto responded.

"I thought we were trying to avoid Dotou." She responded.

"If we could put an end to Dotou's rule, would you do it? Even if it means killing your own uncle?" He asked, not bothering to mince his words.

She remained silent, thinking carefully about what he had just proposed.

"I would. To free the people of Yuki no Kuni from his oppression. I know that my father would have wanted his people to be free of tyranny, I'll just see if I can do it without killing my uncle, that too is something that my father would have wanted." Koyuki spoke, her conviction clear in her voice.

"Well, then let's get started, we have a nation to rescue." Naruto said with a feral grin, before picking her up and running down the corridor. Naruto made his way down to the place where he had first entered into the airship through the window. He carried Koyuki onto the top of the blimp before he set her down and summoned two phoenixes. The first he told to pick up his sensei and meet with them later on, the second both he and Koyuki boarded, after she managed to get over initial shock. She then guided the phoenix to their destination. Naruto hoped that he and his sensei would have time to coordinate a plan of attack before the blimp got to the destination.

XXX

Jiraiya was surprised to see a phoenix coming out of the sky right towards him. He was expecting Naruto to be riding back with Koyuki in tow. He did not expect to receive the report that the 'idiot genin' was going after Dotou and Nadare with Koyuki with him. Surely he would have remembered that the client's life came first?

Regardless he climbed aboard the phoenix, where it whisked him away to where Naruto and Koyuki were waiting. When he met up with them he restrained from chewing Naruto out, deciding that he would get ample opportunity later. Any planning time that they were supposed to have evaporated instantly as the airship loomed into view.

"I'll take Nadare, once I've finished with him I'll help you with Dotou if you need it, Jiraiya muttered to Naruto; whose only response was a quick nod.

The blimp landed, a moment or two later a walkway lowered and the two men aboard casually walked out.

"Well it seems as though we have an unwelcome welcoming party. Let's dispose of them first, and then take our time with the treasure." Dotou announced.

"Uncle, would you consider repenting your ways? Reconcile with me, stop this madness. The only reason you ever wanted this power was to further your own ambitions; you have completely forgotten about the people of Yuki no Kuni." She called to her uncle.

"And what of you? What have you ever cared about the people of this land? If you truly did care, then you would have appeared before now to challenge me. No, I think I'm far better suited to the role of Daimyo than you ever will be." He called back to her.

"You're right, I am no model, but I am willing to change, for the sake of the people I had forsaken. I'm offering you that chance. Repent your sins and free the people from this oppression." She tried to reason once more.

"Foolish sentiments girl, too much like your father. Diplomacy can only get you so far. To rule with an iron fist and achieve true power, this is the way things must be done. I'll start right now, enough words." Dotou jeered, beginning to craft hand seals as he spoke.

"Hyouton: Kokuryu Bofusetsu." He shouted, a giant black dragon composed of snow and ice materialising, charging straight at Naruto.

Naruto crafted his own seals.

"_Katon: gokakyu no jutsu!" _He called, spewing a massive fire ball, the ball strained against the wind and ice jutsu, but it eventually bowed to the sheer power of the attack, sending him flying a short way, though the brunt of the attack significantly reduced.

Naruto quickly summoned a phoenix and told it to take Koyuki out of the battle area. Dotou didn't even bother t try and stop the bird, he was so focussed on Naruto.

Nearby, Jiraiya was fighting with Rouga Nadare, but he wasn't fighting cleanly.

"Your female teammate, she fought quite impressively, but she really wasn't a match." Jiraiya called out.

"So you killed her." Rouga tried to sound emotionless, but it was easy to hear that his voice got stuck in his throat.

"No, I killed your other teammate, for that I am sorry, according to your female companion it was unnecessary." Jiraiya answered.

"What have you done with Fubuki?" Nadare called.

"I've simply sedated her. As a bargaining chip, if you stand down from this fight and allow me o help my student, I guarantee her safe return. On the other hand..." Jiraiya trailed off; sometimes a man's imagination was a far more potent threat than any voice by his opponent.

"Don't you dare stop fighting. That whore isn't worth a damn compared to my dreams." Dotou commanded, there was nothing else Dotou could have lost Nadare's loyalty so easily.

"You have my word. I will not raise a hand against my master, nor will I interfere in the punishment for his crimes." Nadare bargained before backing down.

Jiraiya did not rush into the fray, but simply allowed Naruto to finish his fight. He would step in if necessary, but the boy seemed to be handling himself fairly well, despite his jutsu being mostly ineffective due to Dotou's chakra armour.

Dotou had attempted another high powered jutsu, but Naruto just avoided it while taunting his foe.

"Having power is good, but if you can't use it or it's misdirected then it's as good as useless." Naruto taunted before creating five shadow clones.

Dotou tried once again to use a black dragon blizzard jutsu, but this time Naruto was prepared. One clone used a grad fireball technique, while another used the great breakthrough, the wind jutsu increasing the power of the attack dramatically. The attack easily burst through the black ice dragon, barrelling right at Dotou who only narrowly managed to dodge. While he was on the floor the three remaining clones charged in.

"You're taijutsu is practically useless against this armour, you may as well give up." Dotou taunted as he made a sloppy punch at one clone's torso. The clone ducked under the punch before it grabbed Dotou around the midsection in what appeared to be a bear hug.

"What the hell are you doing you idiot?" Dotou demanded.

"Boom." Was the calm response he received from the clone before it detonated around his midsection. The blast threw him back, but he remained mostly unharmed.

"This armour is beyond all your petty attacks." Dotou bragged, failing to notice the hairline crack forming in his armour. Neither Jiraiya nor Naruto failed to notice, and both smiled at the development.

Dotou, confident in his armour's abilities charged recklessly at the clones, not caring if they could detonate, after all his armour was impervious.

He launched a kick at another clone's head. As he was about to land the hit the other clone came up behind him and exploded, propelling him towards the final. As he sailed towards the final clone it detonated just they were about to collide. This time he got up far more slowly, looking as though he was actually struggling. When he faced Naruto a large crack was visible in what appeared to be the core of the armour.

By the time he turned around he had little time to react to Naruto running right at him with an orb of violently spinning chakra.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto roared as he threw his whole weight behind the strike and ploughed the attack into the cracked armour.

The armour could no longer stand up to the fierce assault and shattered, sending Dotou spiralling away at high speed before he crashed into a rocky out crop and was knocked unconscious.

"So what now? Will you kill him? Will you defy our leader, only to leave our country in chaos without a leader?" Nadare asked, wondering what the next step would be.

Koyuki looked at him for a moment before answering.

"No, I meant what I said. I haven't once stood up for the people of Snow, but I'll do it now. I'll make this country great again through my own hard work. It might take a while for me to be accepted, but I'm sure I can do it." She spoke as she walked over to Naruto.

Anticipating what she wanted, Naruto pulled of her trinket and handed it to her. She climbed the rocky out crops that Dotou had crashed into before inserting the gem into a small hole. The effect was near instant. Turbines roared to life and started producing heat. With a few minutes the ice that they were standing on was starting to melt.

"AND CUT!" a voice rang from somewhere within the melting ice. The director's head popped out from over a hill, smiling as he came towards the Koyuki. To think that you were a Daimyo all this time. Who would have ever guessed, eh, Sandayuu?" He called out.

"Sandayuu," Koyuki called as she looked kindly upon the aging man "I'm sorry to have put you through so much over the years. You honoured my father's last orders to you even though I practically hated you for reminding me of my heritage all this time. I'm so sorry. From now on I'll stand up and lead this nation as I should." She vowed to the faithful servant.

Sandayuu's eye's moistened. But he did not cry.

"Come Koyuki-sama, there is much to do. We must officially instate you. Then we shall hold a banquet in your honour."He said.

"Not my honour, but to honour Naruto ad Jiraiya, without them this wouldn't have been possible, she replied as she looked warmly at both student and sensei. Jiraiya actually surprising her and not making any perverted comments or gestures.

XXX

In the weeks to come Koyuki was instated as Daimyo. While she did have to work some to earn approval, Dotou did much of her work for her. Many people willing to accept her, simply as a change from the iron fist that Dotou ruled with. She did prove her worth as a leader, implementing changes that had allowed her people freedom that they hadn't known since the previous Daimyo.

Naruto and Jiraiya remained into the newly made Spring country. Nadare and Fubuki had been assigned roles as part of Koyuki's guard detail as a sign of good faith for any remaining underlings in hiding. Naruto of course had not been allowed to lapse in his training regimen, Nadare and Fubuki exchanging their guard detail with Jiraiya in order to provide Naruto a change in sparring partners for a while.

Their mission completed, it was time for Naruto and Jiraiya to move on to the next phase of Naruto's training. Koyuki Gave Jiraiya a handshake before turning to Naruto."I want you to know. I was you that gave me the courage to stand up and do this. It was your own desire to become Hokage that convinced me to stand up and lead my own people." She said to him before pecking him on the cheeks. Just as her lips made contact a flash went off, Jiraiya passed the camera to Koyuki.

"Write a diplomatic letter to the Hokage and open a trade route between here and Konoha, it will strengthen your position politically. Also write a personal one, include that photo, we can't really write all that much, so would you grant us that?" He asked.

"Certainly." She replied with a smile.

They shared a quiet moment before Jiraiya announced that it was time to leave. With that they disappeared in a blur, Nadare and Fubuki moving forward from their hiding places after giving the three some privacy.

"They were fun." Fubuki observed quietly.

"I think we can expect great things in the future.' Nadare added as the three watched the master and student on their way.

XXX

**End Chapter**

Sorry for the long updates as well as the delay between updates.

Cheers,

Fish


	21. Chapter 21

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 20**

So...I didn't think I'd get the opportunity to write another chapter so soon, but here we are. Be warned, I'm not quite all there, I've been receiving some heavy pain relief recently, so there might be mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

XXX

_Tsunade Senju,_

_I was asked to write you two letters by Naruto's sensei, Jiraiya; one personal, one asking for a political and economical bond. This being the personal, letter I really don't have a lot to write myself, but I might be able to speak on their behalf. Also, perhaps I should introduce myself. I am the woman who was formerly known Yuki Fujikaze, an alias that I used as an actress. My actual name is Koyuki Kazahana, the Daimyo of Yukigakure. _

_Perhaps I should start by telling you that both sensei and student were doing well when they left Yukigakure after completing the mission here and helping me return to power after overthrowing my tyrannical uncle. It's funny, but I had no desire to even return to my homeland, for fear of my uncle, but somehow he managed to convince me that the endeavour was worthwhile._

'Heh, sounds like the brat.' Tsunade thought as she smirked to herself.

_He told me of his dreams to become Hokage as well as his desire to have a large family. Actually, that brings something else to mind. He told me that he didn't have any real blood, family, but he had since inserted themselves in place of family members. Kakashi is someone that he obviously considers an elder brother, but he told me that he considered you his mother._

"Stupid brat!" Tsunade choked out as her eyes moistened.

_He made brief mention of the jounin that were in his life and how they could be considered crazy aunts and uncles. Moreover, he mentioned the names of two girls, Rei and Haku. When I asked him who they replaced, he stopped for a moment. His exact words were 'they don't replace any one, but they're important to me'. The look that crossed his face was adorable._

'Blackmail material_.' _Tsunade thought. At least for a while, it'd lose its effect when the inevitable happened.

_Also, I have included a photo. A happy-snap that Jiraiya took as we were departing, I only hope that Rei and Haku understand and don't kill him or me _(that piqued Tsunade's interest, who made special note to find the picture)_. That was simply me giving him my thanks for providing me with the courage to reclaim my country and as a good bye before he left._

_On a final note, one of my guards, Fubuki has asked me to inform you that she is proficient in hyouton jutsu. Jiraiya had asked if she was related to Haku. She stated that she isn't, though would still like to offer the chance to the girl to learn a bit more about her ability and vice versa._

_I one day hope to meet in person. Perhaps I might be able to arrange a visit in the future, but for now, I will leave it to letter correspondence._

_Yours truly,_

_Koyuki Kazahana._

"The brat has been busy." Tsunade said to herself, then managed to find the picture of Koyuki leaning down to kiss the boy who had a stunned look upon his face. Tsunade developed a rather Cheshire grin before considering exactly what she could do with this, no doubt Shizune, Haku, Rei and Kakashi would all be interested in seeing this photo.

For now she had other work to check on, particularly a report from one of her ANBU regarding Tayuya's probationary period. She had been integrated into Konoha's shinobi corps after the council had decided that the information as well as how it was used was enough to secure her a second chance. She had been integrated into Kurenai's team; Tsunade had picked the red-eyed jounin particularly because Kurenai could not only teach her a great deal about genjutsu, something that she clearly excelled at, but also acting as a proper lady should. Her cursed seal had been sealed by Kakashi. She had protested at first, arguing that she should be allowed to use the seal to fight Orochimaru, but Tsunade and her own Sensei, the Sandaime were hardline about the thing, as was Anko Mitarashi, who was asked to give her own personal experience as evidence. Both stated that the seal only made the person stronger based on their own negative memories, this was not the way of a Konoha shinobi, there was strength to be found in the bonds formed through hard work and perseverance.

After all this process Tayuya had been put on a probationary trial period; one supervised by an ANBU. As she reviewed the report she realised it was everything that she expected to see, while Tayuya's personality had yet to change a great deal, still being a rather abrasive person, she showed no signs of a duplicity, Tsunade could safely declare her a Fire country citizen as well as a Konoha shinobi.

She asked her an ANBU to inform Kurenai of her student's change in status as Tsunade filed the necessary paper work, a chore that Tsunade hated above all else. Later that night Team Kurenai had celebrated Tayuya's official welcoming as a Konoha ninja. They had a meal as a team, Kurenai paying for the meal for her team. Many of the Konoha rookies were there, most notably the members of the Sasuke retrieval team, to show that there were no hardships anymore, she was their ally.

There was good natured teasing all round that night. Asuma was the loudest amongst them, constantly ribbing Shikamaru. Asuma was a firm believer that a man was always secretly after a woman like his mother, so the most hearty guffaws were heard when the two people that were sitting closest Shikamaru were Ino and Temari, the two of them seemingly having a less than private contest to win the lazy chuunin's affections. The day that Temari had rolled into Konoha as a permanent place in their diplomatic corr had been memorable. She had managed to aggravate Ino as well as scare the life out of Shikamaru when she asked him on a date out of the blue. It even came around that Tayuya herself may have been interested; though that earned a verbal spraying like no other, though a blush lit her cheeks.

"Are you kidding? Why would I get involved with anyone so troublesome? I'd much prefer someone a bit calmer and less likely to explode." Shikamaru retorted, arms folded.

"Typical Shikamaru, lazy as hell, probably why you're eating so much ramen these days, too lazy to even chew your food." Kiba called out across the noise, joining in on the good natured teasing.

"I also sleep at mission ops so I don't have to wake up as early to get there or be bothered walking home or back again." Shikamaru added. He said it with a slight hint of sarcasm, but considering whom it was, it was more than a possibility.

XXX

While his friends were enjoying a night off, Naruto was being run into the ground by his acting sensei. Jiraiya had made Naruto a compromise. Jiraiya needed to do some actual research into the Akatsuki, and he didn't think that he could complete his objectives with Naruto in tow, so he offered to leave Naruto behind with a caretaker sensei. When Naruto asked who he had in mind Jiraiya answered easily.

"Seijuro Hiko." Was the swift reply.

Naruto knew that this was a golden opportunity; a chance to work with the sword master would not be passed up. After Jiraiya had explained, Seijuro readily accepted the genin as an interim apprentice. From day one Naruto had been worked into the ground. Each day Naruto would create a multitude of clones and the clones sole purpose was to practice the techniques that Seijuro had to teach him. The real Naruto worked on his physical abilities, from running laps to sit ups and push ups. Seijuro handed Naruto a sword to train with, made out of the same material as his chakra bracers, the more chakra you pumped into the sword the heavier it got. The idea was to be able to pump chakra in, get used to the weight until you managed to use it at a reasonable speed, and then increase the weight again. Naruto had remained with Hiko for close to nine months when one morning before training Seijuro spoke to Naruto about a change in his regimen.

"You're picking up skills at a terrifying rate, before long you will be able to learn the succession skill of the Hiten Mitsurugi, the one that will declare you a master. Before then there is one other training that you must undergo." Hiko informed his charge.

"And that is?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Dragon form mastery. Currently you are only able to transform when you feel that call to go wild after intense battling, with this training you will be able to feel that call all the time and be able to unite with nature at any time you please." Hiko explained.

"That sounds awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.

"There is a risk. This training balances you ability to hear the call as well as retain your humanity and not simply act upon it. If you fail and completely give into your animalistic urges, then you will remain an animal forever. For one such as you, that is most dangerous, without the ability to kill you, and you rampaging as you pleased..." Hiko explained, trailing off at the end. Naruto heard his warning, but still didn't look deterred.

"I'll do it. I'll master this." He declared.

"So be it. While your clones are still practicing the sword techniques, we will work unlocking formeshift." Hiko told him.

"Formeshift?" Naruto quizzed.

"That is what the ability is called, to be able to shift into your dragon form at anytime." He answered. "The way to unlock formeshift is simple. We fight until you have shifted form, then once you have reverted, you must meditate, trying to remember exactly that feeling." He continued not waiting for a response.

"The call is at its weakest right after reverting. Normally the fastest way to be able to shift is to battle again, but you are going to focus on hearing that call, if you can hear it right after, then that is the half of it, the other half is not succumbing to the madness that follows." Hiko gave a lengthy explanation, Naruto nodding and giving other signs that he understood as his sensei continued.

And so it began. Naruto made his clones, and they got to work practicing their sword work, refining a few new techniques that Seijuro had taught him as well as keeping in practice with old ones and learning how to incorporate the old and the new into his fighting.

When Seijuro was happy, he pulled Naruto to a separate area. It was a little ways down and out of the living area that he and Seijuro usually inhabited and took him into the labyrinth to where there was a large pool of water at a dead end. After w quick hand sign the water drained away, Hiko jumping down the where the water once was, Naruto following closely behind. Naruto looked around and saw that he was in a giant room, easily two or three times the size of the chuunin exams arena. Hiko walked to the centre before turning to Naruto.

"And now we fight." Was the only warning Naruto received before Hiko's fist collided with his skull as it sent him flying. Naruto flipped in midair and landed feet first on the wall. He grinned at his sensei before launching himself off the wall, the wall cracking under the pressure.

He collided with his sensei who nodded in appreciation of his students attack. They continued in a similar vein for more than an hour, rarely using jutsu, it seemed as though both preferred an all out taijutsu match as neither summoned a sword. Then midway through the fight it happened, Naruto shuddered, he stopped, his eyes became slitted, then he doubled over, his transformation had begun. Arms turned into claws, a tail sprouted and clothes seemed to disappear in a flash of green light.

At the completion of the transformation Naruto spread his golden wings and roared at Hiko, the man amused by the sight of a golden dragon, when the rest of his kind were either black or red. It was now Hiko's turn to transform, his transformation seeming much faster than Naruto's. By the end Hiko stood facing the golden dragon. Where Naruto was big, Hiko was gigantic, where Naruto looked ferocious, Hiko looked to be the epitome of terror, his gigantic black form seemed to terrify the smaller dragon. Naruto did what any animal backed into a corner would do, he attacked.

He rushed forwards, fangs bared, lunging at Hiko's neck. The black dragon easily evaded, using his sharp claws to tear at the golden dragon's metallic hide, a terrible metallic screeching could be heard as Naruto's metal hide protested, but eventually submitted to the harsh attack, leaving long gashes in his side.

Naruto roared his pain before unleashing a torrent of white hot flames. Hiko, allowed the hit to connect, no dragon had ever had breath hot enough to harm another dragon, they were fire resistant after all, lightning was the only element that could stand up to them even at low levels. So it came as a surprise when Hiko felt a scorching pain, through the pain haze he used his tail to lash out at Naruto, effectively stopping the molten stream. When the flame attack had stopped, it became apparent that Naruto's flame attack was more potent than usual, pools of white molten metal were surrounding Hiko; Naruto's fire had been hot enough to melt the metal hide clean off his body.

Hiko appraised the smaller dragon carefully. Naruto had been sent into a wall by the last strike, so he was still picking himself up. Naruto was far wilder than he could have imagined. The golden dragon had swayed his head looking for its opponent, when it found his target it rushed in, the speed it showed had surprised the black dragon and the cost was for inattention was the compromising position that Naruto had now gotten him in. He had him pinned down on the floor and was slowly prising the black dragons mouth open. Just as Hiko's mouth was opened he saw when Naruto was trying to do, breathe his fire right down his throat, there was little doubt in Hiko's mind that he would be dead if he let that happen.

At the least second Hiko managed to overpower the smaller dragon, Naruto's flame striking the ground and splashing sideways, melting some of the ground. Hiko didn't wait any more, he spread his wings and charged right at Naruto, ramming him into a wall, with his smaller form ground between the larger dragon and the wall, Naruto had no room to move, so he couldn't avoid his tail being grabbed nor could he avoid being swung by his tail, crashing into the wall at various point before being released and crashing into a wall, where he slumped before reverting into his human form.

"God dammit that hurt." Naruto managed to groan.

"Quit your complaining, you dealt almost as good as you got." Hiko told him. "Now sit. Try and remember that feeling. Try to remember what it felt like to be so highly attuned with animals, as closely connected to a nature as almost any human could ever be. Meditate, try to bring back that feeling, but do not give in to it." Hiko commanded.

Naruto did as he was told; soon he had managed to reign in his breathing and was in a deep meditation.

"Owowowow!" Naruto cried out as Hiko whacked him hard upside the head.

"I said meditate, not sleep." He warned.

"I wasn't I swear, Naruto said as he held his head.

Naruto started again, this time actually focussing on what he was supposed to do. It was another half an hour before either one of them spoke again.

"I can feel it. That call, it feels so wild, like I could do anything. It feels amazing, it's getting stronger." Naruto told his sensei. He suddenly threw his head back and inhaled deeply, when he opened his eyes Hiko knew he had gone too far, they were slitted, just like his transformation.

"Naruto, resist the urge to transform. If you shift now, you may never revert to your usual form." Hiko urged.

"It feels so…wonderful." Naruto continued.

"Feel it, but master the feeling, do not allow yourself to succumb to it." Hiko pressed.

"I can feel everything, the call to go wild; it's what helps us sense others. I understand it now."Naruto said in wonder.

"Naruto, you have to stop, it's winning." Hiko urged with a hint of desperation in his voice, but his pleas fell on deaf ears, it was too late. Naruto had succumbed, he was transforming. Hiko jumped back, when Naruto had finished his transformation he looked right at Hiko.

Nothing but pure bloodlust lay in those golden pools, promising carnage and destruction, Hiko transformed as well, hoping to literally beat some sense into the crazed boy. They fought again, this time the battle was far more vicious, Naruto aiming for vitals every time he struck. After an hour of fighting, it became apparent to Hiko that Naruto was not going to come out of this trance. Once again he used Naruto's tail and threw him around the arena. This time, he reverted into his human form and uttered an apology to Naruto who was getting back in his feet.

"Sorry kid, has to be done." He said before flashing through a few hand seals and announcing a jutsu "_Raiton: Raimari!"_ He called as a ball of lightning appeared in his hand. Naruto was in no position to dodge and the ball struck him full force in the chest. He recoiled from the strike, but managed to still move after the hit.

"No way. That's supposed to kill." Hiko's eyes darkened before he took things to the next step. "_Raiton: Dai Raimari!"_ Naruto was still reeling from the previous attack, and couldn't get out of the way, the ball of lightning was three times as big as the first, and it had the desired effect. Naruto roared before slumping over, dead.

Hiko didn't wait around to see what happened, he knew that the boy was also of phoenix heritage, so he did the only logical thing, he started running. When Naruto combust to reincarnate it would consume all the oxygen to fuel the fire, if Hiko was still inside this cave when all the oxygen was consumes he would die as well.

He could feel the heat that Naruto was putting out, more importantly, he could feel the drain on the oxygen supply, it was getting harder to supply his muscles with oxygen to keep them working, but it wasn't far now, he knew the exit was insight. As he made his way towards the exit he ran past Jiraiya. He had to double back and get the man that was walking into a death trap.

"I'll explain later, just run!" He said as he grabbed Jiraiya's arm and pulled him along for a moment before the sannin managed to get things into gear. By the time they were clear of the area they could still feel the heat coming from the cave, from far down the line, and they were gasping for air.

"What the hell happened? And where is Naruto?" Jiraiya demanded.

"That was Naruto. I was trying to achieve formeshift with him, so that he could access his draconic form at any time. Unfortunately with that comes the risk of being trapped as a dragon forever. When he started rampaging I killed him. Hopefully when he reincarnates he will be in his human form once again." Hiko answered.

"And if he isn't?" Jiraiya tested.

"Then we will cross that bridge when it comes." Hiko replied calmly

XXX

When Naruto woke up he wasn't sure how long he'd been out, after a quick check of the living area and not finding Hiko, he went outside. There he found both his sensei sleeping under the stars.

"Glad to see you're comfortable." Naruto greeted with a grin.

"You're human again, thank Kami." Hiko answered after he'd woken up.

"Ero-sennin? You're back early." Naruto observed. "Thought I was supposed to be here for a full year."

"I came to get you. I did some snooping around Akatsuki. I found that they're starting to collect the Bijuu, both Yugito and Gaara have been identified as the first two targets. I've warned the Kazekage and reinforcements have been sent from Konoha to assist, but the Raikage insists that Yugito will be fine on her own and she isn't being given and additional support." Jiraiya informed.

"What? But if all these guys are like Itachi Uchiha, then she's gonna need help." Naruto said.

"We've got a few days before the pair that's being sent out to her mobilise, so you have time to recover and then we can head out." Naruto remained silent for a moment before he looked at Hiko.

"Are you ready to try again?" He asked.

"Are you sure that's wise? What if you lose control again?" Hiko asked.

"It won't happen. I know what I need to do now." Naruto countered. Hiko looked at him for a long moment before agreeing. The trio moved back the large room that Naruto and Hiko had originally fought in. When Jiraiya had found out that the training involved all out sparring until Naruto transformed, he decided to spar with Naruto. Then Hiko could take over when it was necessary.

As Jiraiya fought his student he noticed the marked improvement in the boys speed, making him ask if he had removed any of the chakra in the bracers. Jiraiya was pleased to hear that he had actually made them ever so slightly heavier in his time with Hiko and was already accustomed to that weight. As the fight wore on, Naruto started showing signs that he was getting ready to transform. Hiko was surprised to hear that Naruto was actually delaying his transformation as he'd been fighting with his golden eyes for some time. If that was the case then he may well just pull of the training. At some point it all became too much for Naruto to control and he made a full blown transformation. Jiraiya was amazed, but even more in awe when Hiko had transformed.

The pair fought each other for some time until Naruto reverted into his usual form. He didn't even need to be told this time. He just sat down and meditated. This time it only took ten minutes for Naruto to hear the call again, unlike half an hour like the previous time. His eyes were golden again, but unlike last time, his breathing was laboured; he was resisting the transformation.

It was one of the most bizarre things that Hiko had ever seen when completing this training. Midway through the struggle Naruto's hand turned into claws, with a great deal of effort he managed to revert them back to normal human appendages, but his struggles were still far from over. Not long after he had reverted his hands a pair of giant golden wings erupted from his back, before a tail burst from the base of his spine. In due time he managed to force both of these changes back to normal. Perhaps the most bizarre was when his head started transforming. This time he knew what he was feeling and actively resisted the transformation in process, it was quite a disturbing sight to see the boy with horns coming out of his skull, with his face elongating and shortening constantly as his body tried to transform, but his mind willing it not to. He remained like that for a full ten minutes before he completely forced the transformation back and slowly regaining control of his breathing.

"You've beaten it, haven't you?" Hiko asked with a smile. "You can hear the call, but it doesn't control you." Hiko confirmed.

"Yeah. The call is there, but I'm not answering, so to speak." Naruto replied before getting up. "I also feel so in tune with everything. Like I can sense every living thing for miles to come." Naruto said in amazement.

He walked away a little bit, then transformed, before instantly reverting, marvelling at how the call was still present even after reverting from his shifted form. Naruto then looked right at Jiraiya.

"We'd better start making tracks if we wanna help Yugito." Naruto told him.

XXX

Naruto and Jiraiya were moving through canyons, Jiraiya was leading.

"So how is it that you know how to find Yugito?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know where she is. I do know how to track the Akatsuki members that were looking for. One of the assigned pair is Kakuzu, he's hell bent on collecting bounties. I have a few informants in the bounty collection office. They told me that he is currently within lightning country." Jiraiya replied.

"So what? We started at the bounty collection area and see what clues we can find?" Naruto guessed.

"Normally yes, but I went and did something a little unorthodox. I hired Yugito for joint mission a mission and requested our meeting point to be set up in an area that I'm familiar with. So at best we have Yugito and I that know the layout as well as hopefully having the advantage over the two Akatsuki." Jiraiya answered.

Naruto looked flabbergasted at Jiraiya's audacity.

"You're using her as bait?" Naruto accused.

"You make it seem so black and white. They would have caught up with her in the first place and she would have been alone when fighting them. She would have had no chance. Her opponents are Kakuzu and Hidan. Hidan I'm sure you're already aware of. At least this way we'll be able to assist her." Jiraiya explained.

"And you know that they'll appear for her at this location?" Naruto asked seeing the flaw in his sensei's plan.

"As far as Hidan and Kakuzu are aware, she is on a solo mission." Jiraiya replied.

"How are did they come by the information?" Naruto asked sceptically

"Did you so easily forget my informant at the bounty office?" Jiraiya answered with a grin.

XXX

"Well, well, well. It seems as though the information that the bounties office provided was accurate." Kakuzu muttered to himself.

"Such a pretty thing. Almost seems a shame that we have to hurt her. _Almost."_ Hidan, the silver haired men contributed.

"So you two are the ones that are mean to capture me? You don't look like much, maybe I won't even need the help taking you on anyway." Yugito taunted

"Keep the chatter for after we've stripped you of your Bijuu." Kakuzu ground out, growing impatient with the banter rapidly. He punctuated is comment by rushing forwards, his fist cocked back and ready to strike. Yugito dodged the strike and developed a feral grin.

XXX

Naruto and Jiraiya were still travelling when all of a sudden he felt his attention draw to a particular area ahead of them.

"Dammit, they've started without us, and it's getting pretty serious." Naruto told his sensei as he felt a massive flare of demonic chakra.

"Dammit. I didn't think that they'd get there before us. We still have another fifteen minutes before we get there at top speed." Jiraiya ground out, realising that his plan may have actually worked against them in putting Yugito in a secluded spot on her own.

"Screw this for a joke!" Naruto cried out before his body enlarged before he was standing in his dragon form. He flew over to his sensei who grabbed onto his leg before Naruto put on a burst of speed. In less than five minutes they were at the scene. They got there in time to see a giant purple cat with two tails fade and be replaced with a tired Yugito. As she struggled to stand a girl with green hair covered her while she got to her feet before collapsing again.

Hidan raced in for the girl, but stopped in his tracks when he heard an ear splitting roar. He quickly dived out of the way of the flames that threatened to consume him.

"Son of a bitch!" Was all Hidan had to say about the matter as he watched the new arrivals, Jiraiya landing then Naruto transforming.

"This may be problematic. Another Jinchuuriki and Jiraiya of the Sannin." Kakuzu surmised.

"Quit your bitching. I'm immortal and you're near enough as well." His silver haired partner countered.

"How many of his masks have you killed?" Jiraiya asked the green haired girl.

The girl didn't bother asking about how he knew, she just answered.

"Two, the earth mask and the wind mask. Nibi-san managed to kill the earth with a raiton, then used her demonic fire to kill the wind." She informed.

Jiraiya smiled before addressing Naruto.

"Hey brat. You take the immortal. The three of us will work on killing the correct mask, then just sating alive, after that you can go nuts." Jiraiya told him.

"Don't let him drink your blood. If he does he can perform some sort of ritual where any damage he does to himself his done to you as well." The green haired girl offered one last piece of advice.

"Just one extra reason." Naruto replied as he and Hidan started squaring off. The green haired girl wasn't sure what he meant, but decided not to let it trouble her right now.

And so each of the dances started. Hidan was the first to make a move, his body doubling in size before the three masks attached to his body flew off in different directions. The four figures looked at their opponents before each using their own jutsu. The lightning mask threw out an attack at the green hair girl, who simply avoided the attack. Jiraiya, being the more potent of the two threats to Kakuzu was being targeted by the two. The fire and water masks each launched their own attacks, Jiraiya throwing up _Doton: Doryuheki _at the last second before he formed a rasengan and used it to bore through the wall he had just made as well as aiming for the fire mask that was behind it. The rasengan managed to only score a glancing hit, leaving only superficial damage on the hard as steel hide of the tiger-like mask.

Meanwhile Naruto had summoned his sword. He had managed to strike a clean blow right through Hidan's heart, yet all the ninja did was just sign in contentment.

"I thought you just heard, I'm immortal. You can't kill me. Then this should be an interesting battle, because you can't kill me for the same reason." Naruto smirked.

"Don't give me that bullshit." Hidan just laughed the blonde's claims away.

"I really don't have anything to gain by lying to you now do I?" Naruto countered.

"So then, let's see who's blessing is stronger, mine or yours." Hidan finally relented, a glare settling over his features.

Naruto didn't respond, he simply shot forwards; he had removed the chakra from his bracers and was now channelling it into his sword. For a person wielding such an ungainly weapon, Hidan managed to do it with such ease, despite how heavy it must have been.

More surprising to Naruto was that the blade wasn't simply sliced in half as Samehada had been.

"Surprised? There are few weapons in the world that are like this. Kusanagi that Orochimaru wields is one other; weapons that have their origins within the heavens are not so easily broken." Hidan told him as he pressed the attack, growing frustrated as he could not hit the ex-Jinchuuriki.

Naruto didn't bother to reply, he was too busy trying to dodge the several blades at the end of Hidan's scythe. So this was a weapon made by a God. It certainly lived up to his expectations, annoyingly so, yet Naruto was not about to simply give in just because of this minor setback, he would struggle around this until he figured out a solution.

Jiraiya was getting fed up of being on the defensive. Between dodging Kakuzu's relentless Ninjutsu techniques from the earth grudge fear masks and holding his own against the man in straight out taijutsu at the same time, he was almost seriously considering resorting to senjutsu, just to be over with the whole thing, but he also knew not to play his trump cards too early.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." _Jiraiya called out, fully expecting the attack to be countered by a water attack from the shark-like mask**. **His wish was granted when his attack and his enemy's sent up a massive plume of steam. Jiraiya took the cover to summon a toad that whipped out a tongue, apparently not feeling any pain as it felt through the steam for its mark. It quickly found its mark and latched on firmly, preventing the tiger like mask from moving.

"Odama rasengan!" Jiraiya practically roared as he attacked from above, destroying the heart contained within the mask, removing Kakuzu's fire element from the field.

The water mask didn't bother to let its counterpart's demise phase it; it simply took Jiraiya's concentration on the fire mask as a chance to send a high pressured water attack at the man. Jiraiya was saved by the now free toad tongue; it latched around his waist before pulling him out of the way.

"Let's see you use your water to counter this." Jiraiya challenged. "Gamazuru, gimme some oil." The toad complied instantly _"Katon: Gamayu Endan!" _Jiraiya announced. The realised that evasion was out of the question, while the attack didn't have the same effect when combined with Gamabunta, the only real option left was to try and counter with a water technique. Unfortunately for the mask the oil ramping up Jiraiya's already deadly fire style techniques easily overpowered its own water jutsu, its last resort doing little to reduce the power of Jiraiya's attack. The flame stuck true and for all of three seconds the mask withstood the onslaught, but eventually started melting, the attack didn't relent until all that remained of Jiraiya's opponent on the floor was a puddle of goo, which could have easily been mistaken for the oil that the toad had spat out.

The green haired girl and the Bull mask were currently sitting at a stalemate. While the mask had yet to penetrate what appeared to be a very effective wind barrier, Fu herself had little that she could use to land a hit on the surprising agile enemy. Added to that Kakuzu was interrupting her at every opportunity with hands busting through the ground when she tried to land a counter after the mask had left itself vulnerable.

She was more than grateful when she head Jiraiya's voice call out a technique to aid her as she came under fire from both the mask and Kakuzu at the same time.

"_Doton: Yomi numa!_" He called from the distance, Kakuzu's had instantly retracting to free itself from the swamp and the ensuing chakra drain, the Bull mask had to with draw as well, lest it get pulled into the swamps depths.

"Thanks, the name is Fu. That thing's lightning style jutsu is something to be watched." She advised as she repositioned next to Jiraiya, watching him appraise his new opponents.

At that moment a hand burst out of the ground right at Fu, Jiraiya quickly stepped in front, announcing his jutsu.

"_Ninpo: Hari jizo!" _Jiraiya called out, causing Kakuzu to hiss in pain before retracting his hand. While Jiraiya was immobile using his defence the Bull like mask aimed its _Raiton: Gian_ right at the stationary sannin, but was cancelled out as this time Fu defended Jiraiya with an intensely powerful wind shield.

"I just want to make one thing clear. Even though I appreciate your help, I need be the one to land the killing blow on Kakuzu." Fu told Jiraiya as she eyed her opponents.

"We'll see what we manage. If I see a killing opportunity then I'm taking it, I'm not going to pussy foot around with an S ranked missing nin." Jiraiya answered. Fu didn't like the answer but decided not to answer back.

Naruto was still trying to find a way to actually kill Kakuzu. He had tried to reduce the man to a cinder, but the man had evaded his techniques. He was fairly certain that his flame attack in his dragon form would have a similar result, added to that the lightning mask was still alive, so a stray blast could well kill him.

"This shit is boring." Hidan cursed as he continued the fight. "I have never fought so much without offering a single sacrifice to Jashin-sama." He complained.

"Just wait. Just as soon as your friend is defeated I'll give you a good fight. Who knows, I might actually find a way to kill you." Naruto offered with a fox like grin.

Jiraiya had moved from only attacking the Bull like mask, to attacking both Kakuzu as well as. The mask was now being forced to defend its master as Kakuzu was slowly starting to tire after fighting Yugito, then Fu and finally a combination of Fu and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya just smiled as he formed his plan.

"Follow my lead." Jiraiya called to the kunoichi before racing off to meet Kakuzu in a taijutsu battle. Fu charged after him, the Bull like mask racing in to defend its master; Jiraiya smiled when it followed his plan.

The bull like mask got to Kakuzu first; it doubles over to unleash a thin but concentrated blast of lighting at near point blank range. Jiraiya managed to duck the attack before using his own jutsu.

"Doton: _Yomi numa!" _The bull mask had not reacted in time and was now a sitting duck for Fu's attack.

"_Mokuton: Toko Mokuyari." _She cried as she lashed her arm forwards. Her arm grew a wooden lance at an astonishing speed, easily piercing the head of the mask and subsequently destroying it, but the attack didn't stop, it pressed straight on, now aiming for a surprised Kakuzu. While the attack had hit the mask in the head, it was on all fours and bogged in the swamp, meaning that it was at about Kakuzu's chest height. Kakuzu saw the danger he was in too later. He managed to avoid a lethal hit, but was skewered on the spear. Jiraiya acted on a moment's notice, forming a rasengan in his hand before burying it just to the right of where the spear had penetrated. Boring directly into his heart, making the man crumple before Jiraiya cared to relent his attack.

"It seems as though the sannin really are all they're cracked up to be." Hidan observed as he saw his partner killed by Jiraiya.

Naruto didn't bother responding, he just developed a very predatory grin. Then it started, his eyes slitted, his body started changing, wings and a tail sprouting, the rest of his anatomy changing until Hidan was staring down a giant golden dragon.

"Mother fucker. Seems that Deidara really was telling the truth, and here I thought that he might have accidentally detonated one of his bombs in his head." Deidara swore as he took in his situation.

The dragon spread its wings at Hidan and roared; displaying its ferocity, but Hidan took it in his stride but remained firm. Naruto used a flame attack on the silver haired immortal, but the man was fast enough to dodge. In his new position Hidan had to jump a low slash of the dragon's claws before ducking under the wing that swiped at him, but the tail that lashed out was too large to simply be avoided, so Hidan help up his scythe to block the hit. Amazingly the scythe withstood the harsh blow, but Hidan was sent skidding across the floor, stopping twenty or so metres away.

Hidan looked at his foe, now looking virtually impossible to beat, with both the seven tails jinchuuriki and Jiraiya waiting on the sidelines to intervene. As Hidan looked at Naruto he noticed how strong the metallic scales look, even the wings looked relatively resilient, though somewhat softer than the scales.

Fu was eager to lend a hand to the boy that had apparently turned into a dragon, but the old man had advised against it, so she was stuck on the sidelines with Jiraiya and a now barely conscious Yugito. The three watched as Hidan's scythe clanged uselessly against Naruto's metallic hide, leaving nothing more than a few scratches.

Hidan was avoiding the strikes that the dragon made rather well, when all of a sudden he changed his targets. His scythe extended far past Naruto's body and lashed out at Jiraiya. The sannin barely avoided the hit, but was nicked by the outer most blade on the scythe.

Hidan quickly brought the scythe to his lips and drank Jiraiya's blood, his body going black while skeletal looking markings appeared all over his body. Normally Hidan would take his time in both drawing out the circle and killing his target, but he was short on time, once he entered he didn't even hesitate, stabbing himself in the heart with a stake. Fu, having already seen the technique was already acting; she forced the stake lower, to strike at his left kidney. Jiraiya fell over, feeling his kidney rupture inside, the next thing he felt was a crushing grip all around his body. When he looked at Hidan he saw Naruto's giant, clawed hand wrapped around the immortal's body.

"Naruto, stop, if you crush him inside the circle then the old man dies as well. Whatever he experiences while in that circle, so will the old man." Fu called to the dragon, desperately trying to avoid having it be the ultimate cause of his sensei's death.

The dragon craned its neck and looked at Jiraiya before it lifted Hidan clean off the ground. Immediately after Hidan's feet left the ground Jiraiya felt the crushing grip leave him. He look at Naruto with Hidan in his grip before he paled and felt like he was going to be sick when he realised what his student might be considering.

Hidan looked to be in absolute terror. He too had deduced his fate and was begging to be spared.

"NO...PLEASE NO...PLEASE NOT THA..." His screams of terror were cut short as Naruto great jaws opened before clamping tightly over the man biting him cleanly in two before chewing then swallowing. He looked at the lower half of the immortal before opening his mouth once more and devouring what was left. Fu looked on in horror before turning and vomiting, even as a ninja, there were some things that were too terrible to bear witness to.

Fu quickly ran to Jiraiya and checked on him. He was in serious trouble, his kidney was punctured and with the amount of blood that pumped through a kidney per minute it was conceivable that he would die long before help could arrive. Naruto lumbered over to his dying sensei before he growled softly. Fu watched the emotions pass through the creature's eye, then widened as it brought its wing in front of it before using its claws to puncture the flesh there. Blood rained on Jiraiya, it poured into his mouth, Fu wasn't sure why it had done what it had done, but was even more shocked when Jiraiya swallowed the blood in his mouth, before opening his mouth again, allowing it to fill and swallowing again. The open wound started to smoke before it started to close over before her eyes. Jiraiya regained some of his colour and even managed to stand; the wound was still bleeding rather heavily, though the bleed was lessening by the second.

"We need to head to Kumo. I'll be fine after drinking your blood, but Yugito looks like she has a severe case of chakra exhaustion. I don't think even you can help that. If her chakra stops flowing then she dies." Jiraiya spoke to Naruto as though he were still human.

Naruto's giant head nodded before he gingerly picked up both Jiraiya and Yugito before motioning to Fu to stand on his back. Fu jumped aboard; Naruto was about to head off when Fu called to him.

"Wait! Pick up Kakuzu's body. We need it as proof of his death." Fu insisted. Naruto roughly grabbed the corpse before taking to the skies. He had never been to Kumogakure, but there was little doubt in his mind from the sheer number of people he could sense in one location that he was going the right way. Within the hour Naruto was approaching the city that was aptly named, the clouds feeling so close right now.

The on duty guard was the first to notice the rapidly approaching form in the sky.

"Wha…what the hell is that?" He stammered out as he saw the looming figure grow larger at an alarming rate, telling him it was moving fast.

"Send word to the Raikage." The other guard told him as he prepared to intercept.

Jiraiya saw the people scurrying down below, scrambling to mount a defence as they flew closer.

"You got enough in you to defend Naruto with that wind shield of yours?" Jiraiya called to Fu.

"Yeah, why?" She called back.

"You see a giant golden dragon about to land right outside your gates, what's the first thing you think of?" Jiraiya called.

"Right I hear ya. But what about attacks other than raiton based jutsu?" She asked.

"Don't worry 'bout them. The kid will handle them. Just don't let any lighting techniques get through." Jiraiya ordered.

By the time it became apparent that it was a dragon approaching them the Raikage was already at the main gates.

"A dragon? Not something you see every day." The Raikage muttered as his brother came up next to him.

"Well whaddya no, that thing aint so slow, and it's even got a golden glow." The large man rapped, a large vein appearing on the Raikage's head.

"Bee, even now, do you have to rap?" The Raikage ground out.

"Got no choice bro, this is the only way I'm gonna use my voice, yo." Bee replied.

"Never mind, intercept that thing. Don't use lethal force just yet. If it wants to land then out here then let it, but if it shows any signs of attacking then respond in kind." The Raikage ordered.

His ninja began hand signing for jutsu. They fired the jutsu as a collective mass, some were water attacks, others lightning based, surprisingly there were even a few wind type moves as well. They noted that the dragon would take a wind or water hit over a lighting hit.

"It's avoiding lighting based attacks, change to raiton imme…wait, is it carrying people?" The Raikage suddenly noticed Fu riding on its back as well as the dragon clutching at several other figures.

"Hold fire, wait and watch, remain on guard." The Raikage change the order that he was about to give.

Naruto held back for a moment when he realised that the jutsu had stopped; then he flew in stopping not more than twenty or so metres from the front lines of the Kumogakure forces.

"Raikage-sama, the dragon, it's holding Yugito as well as Jiraiya of the sannin. The girl I'm not sure of." One of the ANBU had dropped back to deliver the message.

Out on the frontlines Fu was a bit more frantic than the composed Kumo ANBU.

"Medic, get a medic, NOW!" Fu called out as soon as she hit the ground. "This is your ninja, isn't it?" She called to the Kumo shinobi forces.

Shi, a Kumo jounin realised exactly who it was that the girl was referring to and moved forwards to meet the girl.

"What happened?" Shi asked.

"We fought with Akatsuki. Hidan and Kakuzu forced her to transform into the Nibi." Fu informed.

"They pushed her that far? Those guys must be good." Shi commented.

"Good? The entire group is made up from of S ranked ninja!" Fu replied incredulously, who did these people take Akatsuki for; any one of their members could be a kage.

"Right now she's exhausted her own chakra and is relying on the Nibi's, but that is slowly poisoning her." Shi made his assessment, ignoring Fu's last comment.

"Then find an antidote." Fu snapped, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"That is only a bandaid solution. It covers the effect, but not the cause. We need to get her chakra up to acceptable levels, then we can start working to counteract the demonic chakra." Shi told her. "What were the two of you doing helping Yugito anyway?" Shi asked, as he picked up Yugito.

"I was tracking down Kakuzu; he is a missing nin from our village when I came across them fighting. A short at some point that dragon and the old man rocked up helping us." She gave him the short version.

"Old man? Don't you recognise Jiraiya of the Sannin when he graces your presence?" Shi asked slightly amused.

"That explains his ability; I thought it was strange that he had such high ability even at his age." Fu muttered to herself at the new information. Shi didn't bother responding, he simply rushed off; the longer he delayed in treating Yugito for chakra exhaustion, the longer she had to rely on toxic demonic chakra.

Jiraiya had met with the Raikage, who was now appraising the man. He looked worse for wear; the puncture wound was still bleeding rather heavily. While Naruto's blood was still healing the wound it wouldn't hurt to have a medic look over it as the Raikage offered. Jiraiya laughed to himself at that, there was a time when the Kumo nin would have used his weakness to kill him, but then again he himself wound have never gone to the aid of a Kumo kunoichi himself. With the coronation of a new Raikage after the previous, particularly with the fallout over the Hyuuga incident things had changed.

"Thanks for explaining the situation, Jiraiya-san, you and your student will be given temporary admission into Kumogakure." The Raikage said as he got a grasp for the situation after Jiraiya's brief explanation.

Jiraiya backtracked over to where Naruto had landed and spoke to him.

"Well are you going to revert? You can't stay like that forever." Jiraiya told him, forgetting that he actually could now. Naruto scratched his stomach and growled lowly, Jiraiya getting the distinct impression that he didn't want to transform yet after eating such a large meal; the logistics wouldn't work.

"If it wants, your pet can stay out here for the time being." The Raikage offered, a mischievous twinkle present in his eyes.

"Yes, that's quite alright. In fact, it's actually rather well trained. It won't attack anyone, and you could probably allow children to take a ride on it, I don't think it would mind." Jiraiya said as he walked away.

"Truly? I'll make sure to pass that around the village, the children would love something like that." The Raikage responded.

Naruto heard both men laugh uproariously as they walked into the village followed by Bee, though he wasn't sure what they were laughing about, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he was certain wasn't related to his recent meal.

XXX

All through the day Naruto was pestered by young children who had come by to look at him. At first he didn't mind them treating him like a zoo, but at some point one of the children had been brave enough to walk up and start petting him. Seeing no response in the dragon, the boy quickly took to climbing the dragon, which then encouraged many other children to follow his lead. Before the end of the day more than one hundred children had clambered their way across some part of their body.

Naruto knew that his sensei had something to do with this, and swore that he would get him back one way or another.

His opportunity came when he sensed his sensei coming out of a geisha house rather late at night. Naruto took to the sky, the ninja guards didn't bother trying to raise the alarm, the dragon had proved to be quite tame through the day. The dragon located his sensei though mostly sensing his life force, an ability that had gotten far stronger since achieving formeshift.

The dragon landed right in front of his sensei, the man being started for a second before he developed a sheepish grin.

"Hey…err…Naruto…now I know you're not upset about me spreading word about you being a kids' playground now? Are you?" Jiraiya asked nervously. Naruto just grinned, though to Jiraiya all he could see were gleaming rows of large white teeth. Jiraiya didn't wait; he simply turned around and started running as though his life depended on it.

Naruto gave chase, taking to the sky once more, though this time flying low. Jiraiya thought he was home free, then the next thing he knew he was buried next deep in something that felt like mud, but smelled one million times worse.

"Did yo…did you just…GAKI I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Jiraiya roared to the sky as he realised exactly what he was covered in, he could hear the growling laughs of the dragon as it leisurely flew away.

It was at this time that Fu made an appearance, she saw Jiraiya, who called out for help, but chose to ignore the call as she dashed back to her apartment. She returned a less than a minute later with a cloth around her face and something swinging from her hand. Jiraiya looked at her for a moment before he saw a bright flash, then watched as she walked away.

"You…you little…I'M GONNA KILL BOTH YOU BRATS!" Jiraiya roared for the second time that night.

XXX

Naruto walked into the village feeling as though all was right with the world. He felt much better after having purged his meal from his body. The chuunin guards did try to stop him when he entered the first time, and nearly cried with laughter when he declared that he was the dragon from earlier. After a quick demonstration and two gobsmacked chuunin later he was allowed to pass into the city without further incident.

The first place he headed was to the Raikage Tower; surprisingly he was ushered though with little waiting time.

"So, Naruto-san, I expect you're looking for your sensei." The Raikage enquired.

"No, I can find him without too much issue. I was wondering if you would mind if I visited Yugito-neechan while she was in hospital." Naruto asked.

"I don't mind, visiting hours in the hospital open in about an hour. I'll have Samui be your guide." He offered as he called for the chuunin in question. Minutes later a buxom blonde kunoichi in her late teens appeared in the office, she took a quick glance at Naruto before she bowed to her leader and accepted her orders.

"So, do you know what Yugito-neechan's favourite food is?" Naruto asked as they wandered out of the building.

"It's sushi, though I'm not sure if she'll appreciate it so early in the morning." Samui offered.

"Trust me, when you get lumped with hospital food, you'll love it when someone brings in your favourite." Naruto told her.

"You sound as though you're speaking from experience." Samui replied.

"I've had my fair share of stays in hospital." Naruto replied casually. Samui decided not to press the boy she barely knew for further information, but instead took him to the sushi place that Yugito frequented.

They picked a variety pack and made their way to the shinobi hospital. Unlike in Konoha, Kumo had two main hospitals, one for shinobi and another for civilians. The shinobi hospital had a higher concentration of med nins who could take care of the ninja related injuries.

After consulting the receptionist and then finding the correct ward and room they managed to find Yugito sitting propped up in a bed talking with the green haired Fu.

"Mmm...sushi." She groaned as both Samui and Naruto entered the room.

"See, I told ya she wouldn't mind after having to put up with whatever it is that a hospital defines as food."Naruto said to Samui, who simply raised her hands in surrender.

"So, how are Hisa and Rin coming along?" Naruto asked.

"They are doing well, now that they are both chuunin." Yugito informed.

"Chuunin? I wonder if everyone else back home is a chuunin yet. Wouldn't be surprised if one or two have made it to jounin already." Naruto thought out loud.

"Ah that's right, you're still an ickle genin, aren't you?" Yugito teased.

"You're only genin? But even before you transformed you managed to stay ahead of Hidan!" Fu exclaimed.

"Transformed? Into what?" Samui asked, intrigued.

"That giant dragon that you saw outside the village." Yugito replied offhandedly.

Before anybody could make another comment Jiraiya walked in.

"Ah, here you are." Jiraiya grinned evilly. Fu and Naruto shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Brat we have to get moving. We can't stay still for too long. You have to do some training." Jiraiya told him. "And before we even do that there are formalities that must occur with Kakuzu's body.

"I'll take that. I'm sure the village elders would be pleased to have that back in their possession." Fu offered. "I'll make sure that the bounty is paid out to you." Fu told him as Jiraiya handed her a scroll.

"Tell them to pay it to the village hidden in the leaves." Jiraiya grunted as he felt the scroll slip from his grasp.

XXX

Naruto and Jiraiya remained within Kumogakure for the time being, Naruto had managed to write a letter to Konoha and posted it himself, the image of Jiraiya covered in dragon excrement included; he was sure Tsunade would get a kick out of that.

In the time that he was there Yugito had completely recovered and had a sparring match with her. It was painfully clear that he would need to touch up the fighting style he had inherited from his mother; he might even need to consult the phoenix summons to can some assistance as time wore on.

The highlight of his stay had been a swordfight with both Darui and Karui. Both were students of Killer Bee. Naruto had originally asked to spar against Killer Bee himself, but he delegated to his two chuunin students. Both students were defeated by Naruto, but when he realised that Bee was likely on a level similar to that of Hiko's he was grateful he hadn't sparred against the eight tails Jinchuuriki.

Fu had stayed a short while and spent a little time getting to know Naruto, though any time she had was cut short by her own insistence that she needed to return to her own village.

XXX

Naruto and Jiraiya had made their way to back to the cave where Hiko lived. The man was outside of the cave, apparently awaiting their return.

"You've returned, that's good. You've mastered all the basic techniques of Hiten Mitsurugi, and you have achieved formeshift. There are only a few things left for me to teach you. After that, the rest is up to you, to rebirth the dragons and lead well.

Naruto looked into his mentor's eyes and realised that he would have to step his game up like never before.

XXX

"Welcome back, Fu." A Taki village elder greeted within the confines of a council room.

"It is good to be home elder." Fu greeted cordially.

"I trust that you completed your mission?" Another elder enquired.

"I have." Was all she offered before unsealing the body of Kakuzu.

"Congratulations on killing Kakuzu. He was an S ranked ninja, you should be proud." Another elder offered.

"It wasn't me that landed the killing blow. I had skewered him on my endless wood lance jutsu, but it was Jiraiya of the Sannin that landed the killing blow." Fu reported.

There was a charge through the council chambers.

"You have disgraced us?" The first council member spoke.

"My Lord?" Fu was surprised; she had after all completed her mission.

"Kakuzu was originally charged with the assassination of the first Hokage. He knew the importance of this mission, yet he still failed. We sent you to clear our name of that tarnish by killing him, yet what do you do, you allow a wretched leaf ninja to take the kill. And as if to add salt to injury it was Jiraiya; the student of Hashirama Senju's student." The council member told her.

"My Lord

"For this failure, you are sentenced to jail." A third elder commented.

"Prison for failing a mission?" Fu was astounded.

"No, failure for bringing total and irreparable disgrace to Takigakure." A fourth elder commented.

"NO!" A young boy yelled. "This is completely wrong what you're doing!" He continued.

"You dare interrupt, Shibuki?" The fifth elder called. "This is the same fate that awaited Kakuzu when he disgraced us the first time. Why should we allow this girl's failure to slide when he was punished the same way?" The elder tried.

"Kakuzu became a missing nin after he was sentenced to imprsisonment for his mission failure. Perhaps it was the council's failure of its ninja that lead to the creation of Kakuzu as we know him today. He would never have used the earth grudge fear if the original council had never tried to imprison him." The boy Shibuki argued.

"You being are awfully brave for a mouse, Shibuki. Have you forgotten our traditions, the traditions that your father upheld." The first elder reminded him. "You cannot oppose our ruling to punish the girl when all five of us vote unanimously.

"My father was a man of his people first and foremost, if you are unwilling to learn from the mistakes of the past, then I won't allow you to bring the same shame your predecessors did. Fu, as leader of Takigakure. If you feel that she must be punish then I hereby exile Fu." Shibuki gave his edict to the green haired jinchuuriki. Te council members were outraged. They could not do anyting as he had not opposed their decision, but imposed a stricter method, even if it was partially a farce.

She understood that he was doing her a kindness. She understood that if she remained she would be imprisoned, yet it still hurt to have to leave, this was her home for many years, a home she had helped develop. She turned on her heel, moving to her house. She gathered anything that she could not part with and set out. She thought about going to Iwa, but had heard rumours that the people there weren't very friendly to their jinchuuriki. In the end she opted for Konoha, she might be able to meet Naruto there once again.

XXX

"So Hidan and Kakuzu have failed." A shadowy figure summarised to seven other figures in the room.

"That is correct. Kakuzu fell to the Nanabi and Jiraiya. _It was the Kyuubi that beat Hidan_." The two different halves of Zetsu commented in alternation.

"Guess we'll have to go and pick up the pieces, literally. Then Rin can work her magic." Kisame said, though being quite literal about picking up Hidan's pieces.

"_Impossible, there is nothing left to pick up. _The Kyuubi transformed into its dragon form. _Then ate Hidan." _ The two halves reported. Deidara broke out in a cold sweat when he heard that.

"Regardless of the loss, it does not change our next target. Rin, Deidara, Sasori, you are to move out and capture the Ichibi. Be warned, as Kazekage he has a whole ninja village at his command, use it to your advantage." The shadowy figure ordered.

"Hai, Leader-sama." All three intoned with a bow as his image flickered out.

XXX

**End Chapter**

So the stage is set. I'm still working on exactly how I want to do the next chapter. I know what I want to do, but even in my head it doesn't flow correctly so it might take me a while to get it how I want it.

Besides that I've been typing with one hand after nearly having my arm ripped off at work, leaving it severely injured. The only thing I really have to do while I'm off work is to sit and write fanfiction or watch anime...can't play games which is a bummer.

Right so I'll try and post when I can. Cya for now.

Cheers,

Fish


	22. Chapter 22

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 19**

Hi all. I'm going to be up front, I would like reviews for this chapter. I had an idea of how I wanted to write this chapter, but it was hard changing that into reality. To that end, I would like to know if this chapter works as a chapter; was it confusing, did it make sense? Any advice will be appreciated.

On that note, this chapter will be going back and forwards through time, between the time that Naruto sent his letter (in the previous chapter) and present which will be the end of the chapter.

In any case, I'll try my best to incorporate everything that I want to while not trying to confuse everyone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

XXX

**Present Time**

Tsunade had a faraway look in her eyes. She had just finished reading Naruto's letter, and in any ordinary situation she would have had a good laugh at its contents, but right now laughter was one of the last things on her mind. The contents did amuse her, but she felt so drained that it took too much effort to laugh. The last few days had been mercifully quiet. A small reprieve in what had been two weeks of madness.

It had all started with sending two teams to Suna to assist the Kazekage in defending against an anticipated attack from Akastsuki.

XXX

**Two Weeks Ago**

"So you all understand the mission?" Tsunade asked once more as she finished briefing team seven as well as Lee from team Gai, receiving four nods of affirmation. "Well then, Kakashi I'm making you team leader. Good luck you leave for Suna tonight, dismissed." She ordered, seven figures blurring from the room once she had dismissed them.

The team met at Konoha's gates; once they saw that everyone was present they set out on a mission that would test their resolve like no other.

The team travelled in silence, point was taken by Lee, second was Sakura, as the team's medic it was important she was not the first to enter the fray. Kakashi and Sasuke were at her sides, slightly to the rear.

They weren't expecting to be ambushed on their way, but the formation was still precautionary. The mission was officially listed as an A rank diplomatic mission, but it wouldn't be hard to believe that Akatsuki had a spy amongst Konoha's ranks.

At the end of the first day for travelling they all stopped for a break. While the rest of the team had gone to sleep Sakura and Sasuke had volunteered to take first watch. Both were still listed as genin, but it was more than apparent that they were chuunin, bordering jounin, which is what Tsunade had argued when many said that sending genin on such a mission was foolish.

"So our first real mission without Naruto." Sasuke said offhandedly to Sakura.

"Yeah, we've spent so much time training over the last year that we barely had time for anything more than C ranks." Sakura replied.

"It's not like we have a choice. Naruto has gone on a training trip, and knowing him he won't simply kick back, nor would his sensei let him. He's going to come back way stronger, and we have to do everything we can to keep up, otherwise we won't be able to work as a team any longer." Sasuke replied.

"I know what you mean. It's been little under two years, but I'm sure that he'll have grown more than we could predict in that time." Sakura said with a light smile on her face.

"And we each have our own goals; both of our goals have changed in the last two years. I no longer want to stand on equal footing with my brother; I want to surpass him. And you started out without one, then decided you wanted to be a competent kunoichi, then you decided you wanted to surpass Hokage-sama as a ninja." Sasuke thought out loud.

Sakura simply nodded in assent as they returned to watch duty in silence.

XXX

It had been three days since the team had left to Suna. It was early that morning that Tsunade walked into her office to find a green haired girl sitting in front of her desk, apparently waiting for the Hokage. Tsunade regarded her for a moment before greeting her.

"Good morning, my name is Tsunade, Godaime Hokage of Konoha." She announced as she walked in, extending a hand to the girl.

"Good morning Hokage-sama, my name is Fu. I'll get straight to the point. My home village has exiled me for mission failure, without a home I have nowhere to go. I request citizenship in your village as well as to enlist in Konoha's Ninja forces." Fu was upfront in her purposes.

"You are a ninja exiled from your country. What were the circumstances?" Tsunade asked, though trying to not put the girl ill at ease.

"I was assigned a mission to kill Kakuzu, but failed when Jiraiya of the Sannin landed the killing blow." Fu informed.

"And you were exiled for that?" Tsunade looked incredulous.

"I was originally ordered to be imprisoned for life, but Shibuki-sama, exiled me. I may not have a home, but at least he has granted me my freedom." Fu informed Tsunade.

"We'll arrange a test for you to see what rank befits you in Konoha. Until then you can have a temporary visitation pass. It'll be less of a pain if I can do the ninja paper work as well at the citizen paperwork in the one hit." Tsunade told her.

"Understood, but there are some things that I would like to tell you, for your ears only." Fu announced, realising that the meeting was coming to a close. Tsunade looked at her for a second before she motioned, ANBU in the room revealed themselves before shunshining out. Tsunade performed a quick seal before chakra washed around the room, removing the threat of unwanted listeners or observers.

"OK first of all I have the Mokuton." Fu announce, Tsunade's eyebrow rose, but she could tell that there was more to this, so she waited. "I have the ability because I am the Jinchuuriki of the Seven Tailed Rhino beetle." She concluded.

"Well damn, it's not every day that you hear that." Tsunade responded.

"I came here for a few reasons. The first is that I had met Naruto and spoke with him; he said that he was treated well, despite the fact that many people knew he was a demon container. Though he did say that he had to earn their respect. Iwa was going to be my first choice as they were closest, but I had heard tales of how horribly they treated their Jinchuuriki, so I decided against it." Fu continued as though she _were_ reporting to her leader.

"Very well then, I will keep this to myself, as you no doubt wanted but I will allow you to choose who to tell. If that's all then I'll have one of my ninja guide you around before showing you to the proving grounds." Tsunade informed, Fu nodded in response. A short while later the ANBU had returned and she had assigned team nine to show the girl around.

XXX

The Konoha team had been in Suna for only three days when trouble had started brewing. Kankuro had been found lying in the desert not far from the village, he was unconscious and severely dehydrated, but more than that he had been poisoned with something that had yet to respond to conventional methods. When Sakura had heard that the Suna medics had been unable to successfully treat the jounin she requested to see him. They were reluctant at first, but once she had announced her place as Tsunade's apprentice along with the Kazekage's permission she was allowed to treat Kankuro.

The poison had proved to be rather difficult to treat, relying on a rather archaeic method of extraction, rather than using chakra to break down the substance into less harmful metabolites as was the norm these days. She made two incisions in Kakuro, forcing her chakra into his blood stream and looking for anything foreign. This particular method was usually left alone for two reasons; first it required chakra control above that above even most ordinary medic nins and the patient's body would usually try and reject a foreign chakra, meaning the chakra strain on the medic would be higher.

Over the last two years Tsunade had worked extensively with Sakura, not only raising her chakra control, but he stamina as well. It was useless if the medic was too tired to treat her comrades. She wasn't at her master's level yet, but she was approaching it, it might even be fair to say that she was almost on equal footing with Shizune who was considered a genius in her own right.

After Sakura had made the incisions she spent little over a minute performing the procedure, her chakra control so tight that she wasted little in the process, the poison, a deep purple in colour jetted from the second incision Sakura had made, allowing her to catch is before it landed on the floor. She held it in a chakra coated hand, making sure that none spilled. When it had been collected by a Suna medic, she allowed herself to relax before working to seal the incisions that she had made in Kankuro's body.

XXX

It was a full day and a half before Kankuro had the strength to talk and even then it was still laboured.

"So, who did this to you. We won't allow this to go unpunished." Temari said fiercely, she had spent the last day by her brother's bedside looking after him as he recovered.

"Sa... Sasori. It was Sasori th...that got me." Kankuro managed to pant out between gasping breaths.

"Akasuna no Sasori."Gaara enquired, Kankuro just nodded his reply.

"So, Akatsuki then." Kakashi supplied. "It seems that Jiraiya-sama information was right on the money." Kakashi thought out loud.

"He wasn't alone; there were t...two others with him, but at his com...command they left. He tore me apart." Kankuro finished.

"It would seem we need to speak with Chiyo-Baasama then." Gaara said as he moved to leave the room. "Kankuro, get well soon, we will plan this out, make no mistake, they will not go unpunished." Gaara called to his elder brother.

One by one the other ninja moved out of the room, leaving only Temari, Kakashi , the Konoha-nin staying only as long as it took to glean what information he could from Kankuro before leaving him to his recovery.

XXX

Back in Konoha, Fu had been instated as a Konoha-nin. There was little opposition to the movement as she held a spotless record aside for one mission failure; the penalty for that particular mission failure had been deemed a gross miscarriage of justice by the entire Konoha council. The council was also informed of both her Jinchuuriki status as well as the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai that being a Jinchuuriki afforded her. Both were made S class secret, meaning that any mention of it by anyone other than Tsunade or Fu would be treason, resulting in execution. It was a sure fire way to prevent any council members demanding that she used as breeding stock to bring back the Mokuton. If it wasn't a topic for free discussion then it couldn't be brought up for that reason.

After the council meeting Tsunade found herself with nothing to do; for once in her life she was on top of the village paperwork, Fu's paperwork had been the last of it. Sakura was in Suna and Haku was learning from the ninja in the land of snow, developing her Ice jutsu and Shizune was now at a level where she was no longer really an apprentice. There was little for her to do so she decided to head to a place on the outskirts of the village that hadn't been used in over sixteen years.

"This place sure as hell brings back memories." Tsunade said to herself as she overlooked a massive garden. In the centre of the garden was a relatively simple house. The house wasn't anything overly amazing, it looked like it was meant for a small family, the grounds around as well as the house exterior were perfectly maintained, but no one but the Sandaime, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were permitted to enter the house.

"When he makes jounin, I'll give it back, the three of them can live together like they want to." Tsunade said out aloud. "Perhaps that might allow the other two some space to grow as well." Tsunade thought with a smirk, it was almost painful to watch the pair tread on eggshells around each other.

XXX

**Land of Spring**

"I still don't understand why that jutsu is the one that interests you the most." Fubuki said as she watched Haku tirelessly try to manipulate the jutsu to her will.

Haku had taken an immediate like to the ice coffin jutsu, and had immediately tried to manipulate the attack to her benefit, but it had proved difficult thus far.

"It's simple, if I can freeze a ninja, they will be far easier to transport as we won't jolt them as much. Not to mention that it will slow the progression of poisons and prevent further damage in the case of severe wounds. The only problem is at the moment the jutsu has a tendency to crush its victim when it encases it." Haku replied.

"Even so, you're the only one that will be able to use it. Remember? Not everyone has the Hyouton Kekkei Genkai." Fubuki reminded her.

"Have you so easily forgotten the chakra armour? If we can give that to our medics and teach them the jutsu then it might be possible to save more lives on the field." Haku replied.

Fubuki couldn't help but look in wonder at the girl. Koyuki had taken an immediate liking to the girl, she was a softly spoken girl, and even through her gentle demeanour it was apparent how strongly her feelings for Naruto burned when she spoke about him.

XXX

"So how do you think they'll approach?" Temari asked.

"Directly. They will use the village as a hostage." Gaara predicted.

"So then we go out and meet them before they can." Lee offered.

"A pointless counter measure." Gaara replied. "Even if we are not in the village it will get taken as hostage to draw us back. The best method is to sit here and defend. When they do appear, we will simply try and take the fight out of the village, though I feel that will be easier said than done." Gaara explained his logic to the group.

"So it's decided then. We wait; let them make the first move and act swiftly to counter then." Kakashi summarised.

"That is accurate, yes." Gaara confirmed. "That will be all, you are dismissed." He called to them as he had already stated moving to the door.

XXX

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" Sasori spat.

"The Ichibi is our capture." Deidara added.

"We are here to gather information on the Kyuubi's whereabouts. Since his fight with Kakuzu and Hidan he has disappeared altogether. We would like to ask the leaf nin for any information." Itachi responded cooly.

"You won't get any interference from us in this mission," Kisame started "But you sure as hell won't get any assistance either. Not unless Leader-sama orders it." Kisame finished with a vicious grin on his face."

"So you wouldn't help us even if it meant Akatsuki's success?" Deidara asked.

"We'd help Rin. She's the only member that every other member seems to like." Kisame offered.

"What? How can you ju..." Sasori started but was cut off by Itachi's ice cold voice.

"Do not complain. We are doing you enough of a favour by keeping some of the leaf nin at bay while you engage the Kazekage." Itachi cut in, his voice barely above a whisper, but the malice behind it incredibly strong.

"So be it then." Sasori relented.

XXX

The leaf ninja that were in Suna were far from idle while they waited for the Akatsuki to make their move. Sasuke and Lee spent their time learning what they could about Sasori from Chiyo-baasma, a Suna village elder that resented relying on the power of another village. They had to fill in their teammates as Chiyo refused to speak with either Sakura or Kakashi. Sakura was the apprentice of Tsunade, the 'Princess of Slugs and Elixirs' Chiyo had said that there wasn't a poison of hers that Tsunade didn't counter and she had equal measures of respect and contempt for the woman. She only ever saw Kakashi as Sakumo Hatake, his father, a fierce enemy of Sunagakure in his time.

Sakura trained, relying on Sasuke and Lee to bring her up to speed later. She trained with the Suna ninja, asking them to use her as target practice, they were hesitant at first, but Temari was the first to strike after the girl had said she wanted dodging practice. The ninja were amazed at her flexibility, forcing the girl to contort in ways that would have made Orochimaru proud.

The village felt like the calm before the storm, and then early one morning al all hell broke loose. Akatsuki had made their move. Deidara was flying high in the clouds on a clay bird, dropping bombs on the city. Around the immediate area where the bombs had dropped civilian corpses lay and the ground, smouldering in the aftermath.

"And here I thought the _great Kazekage_ loved and protected his people, he hides and lets them die." Deidara cackled as he formed a far larger bomb. He dropped his statue to the ground and watched as it exploded in the middle of the street amongst civilians trying to get out of the area; but the clay construct's blast was smothered by an enormous cocoon of sand.

"The Kazekage is here! He'll save us!" One civilian rejoiced.

"Avenge our friends and family Kazekage-sama!" Another called.

"All of you get moving, this is about to become a war zone get out of here!" A Suna ninja in charge of evacuations called out to the masses, ushering them to a safe zone, leaving Gaara, Kakashi and Temari to deal with Deidara.

XXX

In a different part of Suna, Sasori had broken through the city's outer wall and was now striking at any living thing within range.

"How about taking on something that'll fight back?" Sasuke called as he managed to help on child to safety after a mechanical tail like appendage lashed out at the child. "But first, maybe we should take this fight outside of the village." Saskue offered as he set the child down so it could get away.

"You think I'm just gonna let you just push me around?" Sasori called back, mocking his adversaries.

"Funny you should say." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"LEAF BOULDER BUSTER!" Lee shouted as he launched into Sasori, knocking him a considerable way back and well out of the village.

"Haha...well it doesn't surprise me. If these are friends of the Kyuubi's then they're not gonna be pushovers." Kisame grinned as he watched Sasori be sent flying, then readied himself for battle.

"Thought you guys weren't going to help us." Sasori grunted.

"I'm not, I don't see the Ichibi here do you? We may as well take these out, or at least get one for intel." Kisame said, the pair acting as though there were no immediate threat.

"That's good enough for me. " Sasori replied as they both settled into their stances.

XXX

"This just got a lot harder." Kakashi breathed as he realised who the newcomer to the battle was.

"Someone you know?" Temari asked, not sure who the man was, noticing he had a striking resemblance to Sasuke.

"Itachi Uchiha, the man who murdered every single Uchiha ninja single handed." Kakashi responded.

"UCHIHA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Deidara bellowed.

"I have not come to fight, Hatake." Itachi addressed, completely ignoring a livid Deidara.

"Then why have are you here?" Kakashi asked warily.

"I would like to know Naruto's whereabouts. Tell me and I will stay out of this. Refuse and I will drag it out of you." Itachi threatened.

"You asked the one question that only Jiraiya-sama himself could answer, or Naruto for that matter." Kakashi answered, he honestly didn't know where the boy was; he could only hope that he could convince Itachi of that. Itachi looked at him long and hard before answering, apparently appraising how trustworthy Kakashi's answer was.

"So he is in hiding with Jiraiya-san. No doubt training to control the Kyuubi. This will make things more difficult." Itachi surmised, not bothering to question Kakashi's swift response. "Very well Hatake, as agreed I will not interfere." Itachi said, shunshining away.

Deidara had been surprisingly silent; perhaps he had realised that interfering with Itachi's mission of intel gathering was not wise.

"So, you're done with your little tea party now?" Deidara demanded impatiently.

He surveyed his options, there was the Kazekage and Hatake, the two stronger opponents, then he had the kunoichi, who appeared to be a long range attacker.

Gaara was the first to move, launching an arm of sand at the rouge nin. The clay bird he was riding was surprisingly fast. Evading the sand with relative ease. Temari wasn't going to allow him to fly the skies as he pleased, launching a wind assault with her fan, though he managed to narrowly avoid it, by barrelling upside down.

Kakashi read his moves perfectly and launched a long ranged attack with some kunai. The kunai struck their mark, but the image of the man distorted, revealing a clay clone. The clone lost its form, but the birds remained, dive bombing Temari her. Gaara used his sand to protect her, the bird exploding on contact, but leaving Temari unharmed.

While they were distracted the clay clone that had fallen from the sky had reformed into dozens of centipede marching towards Kakashi. He jumped back, handsigning as he retreated.

"_Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!"_He called, pelting the area with a multitude of fireballs.

The centipede army was quickly eradicated as one that exploded caused other clay figures around it to explode as well.

They were currently at a stalemate of sorts, Deidara was hidden from view and they had no way of knowing where he was amongst the debris. This left Gaara, Temari and Kakashi were vulnerable to an attack from any direction, but had Gaara's sand as protection, so the clay user would be hard pressed to harm them without drawing them out.

That was when Kakashi made a snap decision, he wasn't going to wait for Deidara to come out; he was going to flush him out.

"_Ninpo: Dokugiri no jutsu!"_He called as he blew a giant plume of toxic gas all around the battle area. It didn't take long for Deidara to burst though the cloud and into the air to avoid being poisoned. He had seen Rin use a similar technique, though her particular version was far more potent, proclaiming herself to be a poisons master on par with both Tsunade.

As he shot through the air and formed a clay bird for him to land on Gaara chased him with his sand, sending unforgiving tendrils to capture and crush him. Deidara was too fast for Gaara's sand, but Temari was trying to throw him off balance using high speed wind attacks, amplified by her fan.

Kakashi wasn't fooled though, he knew that Deidara was an S ranked ninja for a reason. He ignored figure in the sky and started crafting a second jutsu.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"_ He called after finishing the hand signs, sending the fire ball directly into the cloud of poison.

The poison cloud burst into flames, this time two figures shot out.

"Well I could shield us from the poison, but the flames were too much." Rin said with regret in her voice.

"It was good while it lasted, yeah." Deidara responded.

Kakashi was in shock as he observed the woman that was with Deidara; if he didn't know any better he would have said that she was a Rin from his own genin team.

"It can't be...R...Rin?" Kakashi stuttered, shocked at what he was seeing.

"It's been a long time Kakashi. Since the night of the Kyuubi's attack, if I remember correctly."

"Th...those clothes. What are you doing wearing those clothes?" Kakashi noticed for the first time that she was wearing a black cloak with adorning red clouds.

"I'm a member of Akatsuki, in case you couldn't tell. I joined the night that the Kyuubi attacked." She explained casually.

"What? Why? Akatsuki was the very reason that the Kyuubi attacked." Kakashi fired back angrily.

"Pain explained to me the truth behind the ninja wars Kakashi. It was the fault of the gods that the ninja wars were started, because of their petty bickering that Obito along with so many good people had to die. It was foolishness that lead to the creation of Akatsuki, and now as a member of Akatsuki, I will punish them for their misdeeds. To do that we need the bijuu, and I will not allow you to interfere with our goals, ex-team mate nor not."Rin explained.

She rushed at Kakashi, who was unprepared for the assault. Fortunately Kakashi was still faster than her and managed to avoid the initial stike, before launching an attack at her unprotected side. Rin dodged elegantly before renewing her efforts.

Deidara was not one to sit still, and decided if the two remaining team members of team Minato wanted to duke it out he was quite happy to settle for the Kazekage, as was his mission in any case.

Deidara sent out more clay birds to distract the Kazekage, while he prepared for something much larger. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting rogue, the Kazekage and ace in the hole beyond Deidara's wildest dreams.

XXX

"What the hell is with this kid?" Kisame wondered aloud as he continued his fight with Lee. "He doesn't seem to be affected by Samehada at all." Kisame noted.

"Maybe it lost its chakra absorbing abilities when the Kyuubi sliced it in half." Sasori responded as he held Sakura and Sasuke at bay with a myriad of hidden weapons and poisons. He even went as far as trying to control their movements with his own strings but realised that with Sasuke's eyes being able to see chakra and Sakura having such tight control that she could sense it and use her chakra scalpel to cut it, making the whole thing useless endeavour.

Lee knew that it was because he didn't use chakra that he wasn't being affected, but he wasn't about to explain that to Kisame; he had seen the vast quantities of water that he could summon to the battle field, even in a dessert, his enemy knowing that he couldn't water walk on this particular instance could be seriously dangerous.

Lee started out launching a new offensive, but before he could reach his target a third person wearing Akatsuki robe appeared in the battle field.

Lee broke away immediately, unsure about this newcomer and the unexpected change to the battlefield.

"Itachi? What's the matter? Surely Diedara didn't work that quick?" Sasori asked, surprised to see Itachi there.

As though to answer his question a massive explosion was heard from the direction of the other battle, indicating that it was indeed still raging on.

"Itachi? Itachi-Niisama?"Saskue managed to choke out as he recognised his brother's visage.

"Nii-sama?" Kisame mimicked. It was hard to imagine Itachi with any familial connections.

"It's been a long time otouto. But we will have our reunion another time. I have more pressing issues. Kisame we're leaving, the Kyuubi is with Jiraiya, he will not be extracted so easily." Itachi said.

"I have no reason to stay. I'm not getting any chakra out of this kid, so Samehada won't be able to regrow." Kisame said, shouldering what was left of Samehada before turning away from the battlefield.

Things were falling into place for Sasuke.

"Itachi, what are you talking about? Why are you with these guys?" Sasuke demanded.

"I do not need to explain myself to you my brother. Stay out of our way, if you resist this change, then I will sacrifice you along with the other nine to prevent this world from rotting from the roots up." Itachi warned, no malice in his voice; it was a promise. He and Kisame turned from the group leaving at a walking pace, apparently in no rush.

"Those bastards just left?" Sasori said in disbelief, he knew that they said they wouldn't help, but Kisame could have at least finished what he started.

"Well we may as well focus on the remainder then help the other three if they still need it." Sakura said as she watched Sasuke who still seemed to be in a bit of shock, though her reminding him of the mission at hand seemed to snap him out of it somewhat.

"Chiyo-baasama said that what we're looking at right now is nothing more than a puppet. We need to break him out." Sasuke summarised.

"Easier said than done." Sakura said as she went through the hidden augmentations that they had encountered thus far.

"So all I need to do is cause a large amount of damage to the shell." Lee said out a loud before dashing into the fray.

Sasori smirked as he saw the teen running in, the poor kid thought he had a chance. Kisame was taking it easy and there was no way in hell that this kid was fast enough to avoid his attacks. He opened yet another secret compartment within Hiruko, his exo-skeleton of a puppet, launching a storm of poisoned senbon at the boy. Sasori was more than surprised when he managed to show enough agility to avoid the last second attack.

Lee pressed on, not letting the hail of senbon phase him, they were too slow to hit. As he pressed he saw Sasori's tail approaching from the side; he smiled, he had been hoping he would attack like that. Lee twisted around the attack, all the while never losing his speed; then he started moving almost faster than Sasori could follow and certainly faster than Sasori could counter in this particular form.

Lee dealt a devastating kick high up on the tail, close to where it joined the main part of Hiruko, removing one of the puppets main weapons.

"Seems I'll have to kick things up a notch."Sasori said as he shed his outer shell, they had seen all his traps and without the tail as the main weapon it was nothing but armour.

The three leaf genin prepared for anything as they watched the strange exo-skeleton crack and reveal its contents.

XXX

"Is this the best that you can do? You are the Kazekage, yet you are so weak. At least the other kages are someting to be feared." Deidara taunted.

"Deidara, he is a kage for a reason and beyond that a jinchuuriki. Do not underestimate him. You, Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu have all paid the price for underestimating a jinchuuriki at one time; if you mess up here I won't be able to help you while I have my hands full with Kakashi." Rin advised, trying to bring the other Akatsuki back down to earth.

Gaara was not concerned with their banter, nor was he displeased with the proceedings of the battle. If his enemy wanted to give him breathing room then who was he to refuse. He continued with his plan, he was slowly crushing all of the debris into sand, surreptitiously so that his enemies would not notice. He would have smiled, but he would rejoice only come with safety; safety provided when his enemy was defeated.

For now Gaara resorted to chasing Deidara with sand, making it look as though anything that got reduced to rubble in the process was all part of him chasing Deidara. Gaara even used Deidara's clay to his advantage, destroying large sections of building and then using the ensuing smoke screen to crush the debris to sand.

'_Not much longer now. Just a little bit more and we can finish this.' Tomo said to Gaara inside his head._

'Yes, once we have enough sand, this will be child's play.' Gaara responded, though still concentrating on the battle.

Kakashi in the meantime was still duelling with Rin, but he had noticed that she had been getting faster and faster, it was almost too much for him to keep up with. When the broke apart next Kakashi was breathing harder than he usually would at this point in any battle, he had trained hard not to tire, so he couldn't work out what was going on.

"I see you've finally noticed." Rin said with a predatory grin as she watched her opponent. "I can secrete toxin from my body. It's colourless and odourless, but after the amount of time we've been fighting; well your clothes are probably saturated by now. You think I've been speeding up right? Well you've actually been slowing down." Rin explained, even if he was her enemy, he was an old friend, he should understand how he had been cheated of his life.

"When did you develop that power?" Kakashi asked weakly.

"I was using a poison jutsu against the Kyuubi, somehow its chakra made it permanent. It's tied in with my adrenaline, the higher my adrenaline, the more toxins I secrete." Rin said with a faraway look in her eyes.

Kakashi realised his predicament and realised that he had to find a way to remove Rin from the fight before either Rin or her poisons removed him. Fishing into his pouch on his leg Kakashi found the antidote pills he was looking for; the things weren't guaranteed to work, but it was still better than trying nothing.

Just as the two childhood friends were about to re-engage in combat they heard Deidara's voice in the distance.

"Wha...what the hell's going on?" Deidara shouted in surprise as he watched all the sand that had been created through their battle slowly start to coalesce under Gaara. First it started off as a trickle, then streams of sand stared forming under the young Kazekage.

"Ninpo: release restrain jutsu." Gaara intoned darkly, the sand that had been collecting underneath him slowly took form, giving rise to an enormous tanuki.

"That...that's not possible." Rin uttered in shocked awe. Kakashi on the other hand didn't bother turning, he simply sprang into action. The antidote pill did have a minor effect, though it had only had a limited amount of time to work. He was moving somewhat faster, though Rin still did manage to notice his actions, but it was far too late to avoid what was coming.

Kakashi wanted something that would incapacitate, but not kill. Raikiri was out of the question, it was either all or nothing and was just about guaranteed to be lethal no matter where it hit; there was only one option left open to him really.

"RASENGAN!" He roared as he thrust the condensed ball of chakra at Rin. Kakashi ended the jutsu early by destabilising the chakra. Instead of grinding away at the woman's solar plexus for a mortal wound, she received the fall out of what effectively was a chakra bomb, sending her flying and crashing through several buildings before coming to a halt and falling unconscious.

"Temari, secure her. We can use her as bargaining or for information." Kakashi barked out, the younger kunoichi jumping to action immediately.

The antidote had run its course, Kaksahi was feeling better, but it was apparent that Rin's poison was too powerful to be overcome by such a simple method and he would likely require specialist attention. In the meantime Deidara had his hands full trying to fight both a demonic Tanuki and a kage level ninja at the same time.

There was a small reprieve in the fighting and Deidara took the time to clarify some issues.

"I thought you had to be asleep for that monster to manifest." Deidara called.

"That was true when we were at odds with each other. We both fought for dominance. But now, we co-exist in one body, and one day, in separate bodies, I will find a way to free her permanently." Gaara called, the conviction in his voice evident.

Tomo heard, but said nothing, she did not trust her voice, but his words meant more than he could ever know.

"That is a long term plan; the immediate concerns your destruction." Gaara snarled as he prepared a jutsu for the Akatsuki.

Tomo smiled a toothy grin as she felt the chakra build up, she knew exactly what was coming and prepared her own attack.

"Fuuton: Divine cyclone jutsu!" Gaara called, the gentle winds that had been playing that day suddenly started whipping up, the winds were rotating at incredible speeds around Deidara.

Mounted in the air he had no chance of avoiding the large scale jutsu. The jutsu itself wasn't all that damaging, there were no wind blades, it did disorient some, but it was the effect of the jutsu that was far more dangerous along with Tomo's addition.

Nearby debris was picked up by the cyclonic winds and dragged into the cyclone. Tomo was sending large amounts of sand into the wind, acting as an abrasive. The pair had discovered that left in there for no more than two minutes the target would have their soft tissue ground away to nothing by the sand, however the jutsu was taxing on Gaara's reserves. Their solution was to add heavier objects that were still easily picked up by the winds, the target would be battered to death while having their soft tissue ground away.

After thirty seconds of maintaining the jutsu, Gaara let the jutsu subside. Left standing was Deidara, his body worn down to the bone in places, but still alive.

"You survived?" Gaara mused.

"I had to disperse all of my exploding clay amongst that wind and destroy any larger chunks of debris that came flying my way." Dedara explained, his speech difficult to comprehend as a result of not having lips. The listeners were sure that if Deidara had enough of a face left to display, it would have an arrogant smile on his now non-existent lips.

"Looks like you're gonna be leaving on your own today Rin." Deidara continued in that same smug voice before he picked up his final piece clay and fed it into what appeared to be a mouth implanted right into his heart.

"You could say that you're gonna see my life's work next. Now you see that in death that I am correct Sasori-dono." Deidara made his final statement as he continued his final attack.

Just as Deidara was about to literally explode Temari was forced to evade a hail of what appeared to be paper shuriken. She dodged away, but was still chased until she had to use her Tessen to blow the projectiles clean out of the air. While she was preoccupied a purple haired woman with an origami rose in her hair wearing the Akatsuki cloake appeared. With wings made of paper she descended on Rin, picked her up and carried her away, leaving Gaara, Temari and Kakashi to deal with Deidara.

Gaara was struggling to think of a way to deal with their expanding problem. There wasn't much choice, ordinarily he would have smothered the attack, but it was going to be on too large a scale to do anything of the sort. Gaara considered the amount of damage his next jutsu might cause, then realised the area was totalled any way.

"Fuuton: God's breath jutsu!" Gaara said harshly after crafting seventeen handsigns.

The jutsu's raw power was incredible. There was no build up like the divine cyclone, just and instant blast of wind far more powerful than any _daitoppa._ The effect was immediate, loose sand and debris were picked up and sent flying out of the city, then buildings that were caught in the onslaught tore themselves out of the ground and went flying.

Finally Deidara, with a little help from Tomo's sand, was picked up. Even at his colossal size, he was not immune to the raw power of that jutsu. He was left a small way out of the village, but Gaara didn't bother to wait and see the result of his final justu.

He collected Kakashi and Temari and formed a sand cocoon around them. They heard the explosion, two seconds later they felt the shockwave, even at their distance from the source it still managed to knock sections of Gaara's protective field loose. When the cocoon was dropped they saw the devastation. There was nothing left, where there had originally been broken buildings the ground was completely flat, the devastation proceeded past them well into area's they hadn't been fighting in, making Gaara glad he had issued the evacuation order.

"Let's go see how the others are doing." Kakashi suggested.

"Yes, but you are headed straight to the med-nins, Temari will guide you there." Gaara told him.

Kakashi was going to argue, but poisoned as he was he would be a sitting duck and he didn't want to have one of his students to have to risk their life for his. Temari knew better than to argue with him, he was not her brother, he was the Kazekage right now and insubordination was not acceptable at any level.

XXX

Sasori watched as his puppet, the third Kazekage was blown into pieces by a devastating punch from Sakura while Sasuke interfered with the workings of the Iron Sand with his various lightning release jutsu.

"One hundred Puppets army." Sasori muttered as he used his most powerful technique against three leaf ninja.

"My grandmother was famed for being able to subdue an entire castle with her greatest puppet skill. With this, I can overtake a country." Sasori bragged, Sakura, Sasuke and Lee didn't have a lot to say, they only prepared themselves for what was to come.

Sasori was the first to make a move, sending his horde of puppets at his enemy. Sakura and Lee stood their ground and used the raw power to tear through the puppet army. Lee was far too fast to get his and Sakura's training with Tsunade had developed her evasion skills to the point where few could land a solid hit.

Saskue on the other hand chose to wade right into the sea of puppets, sharingan blazing, allowing him to weave in and out of the puppets, destroying any as necessary as he made his way to their controller. He was going to try and land the killing blow, rather than wait through the destruction of one hundred puppets, though at the rate that both Sakura and Lee were tearing through them, it might not take too long either way.

The rate of destruction seemed to slow down the more puppets that the three killed. It seemed that Sasori having his concentration spread over such a large number impaired his ability to control all the puppets. Now that there were fewer he could concentrate properly and the one that were left seemed not only to be evading far more successfully, but hitting more accurately and countering at the right time and place as well.

While Sasori wasn't taking any more damage, he wasn't dealing any either. He had to find a way to force their hand. As he surveyed his options he realised that he hadn't quite revealed all his cards yet. He used two of his puppets; one sprayed poison needles, while the other secreted a poison gas. Predictably they retreated to a safe distance, something that he intended to use to his advantage.

Off in the distance the four fighters hear a boom, followed by the tail end of a massive aftershock.

"Looks like Deidara just bit the big one. But rest assured that he took your friends with him. That attack levels everything within the immediate blast radius. I may as well finish this as well. Trust me when I say that you three did well to survive this long, if you had more experience who knows, you might have won." Sasori offered scincerely.

Every concealed bladed weapon revealed itself. The three leaf ninja watched as they were faced with an armoury sufficient to arm the entire leaf village. As one mass the group charged. Sakura, Lee and Sasuke prepared themselves for the new wave, only to find themselves in shock as the individual parts of the puppets separated allowing Sasori to attack from previously impossible angles.

Sasori smirked as he saw their faced change to a shocked horror. He saw that the Uchiha was the only one to remain unscathed. The poison on each of those weapons was a powerful neurotoxin. Within seconds they lose feeling and control of the affected limb and within five minutes the poison would prevent their breathing.

"Not bad Uchiha, but try dodging this one!" Sasori gloated as he sent the tail piece of Hiruko flying at Sakura.

"Predicatable." Sasori muttered as he watched Sasuke race to intercept the projectile. He would easily make it in time, but there wasn't a lot he could do about its trajectory. It was either him or the girl.

Sasori had not counted on a third possibility; neither would be struck. Sasuke stood in the way of the attack determined to save his teammate. Sakura was desperately trying to tell him to move, but a loss of control over her muscles prevented her from doing anything but watching.

At the last possible second a barrier of sand erupted from the floor in front of Saskue, the tail still managing to pierce the defence, but getting caught by the wall, stopping the projectile's motion inches before Sasuke's abdomen.

Sasuke crafted three hand signs before his hand cackled with electricity. He raced forwards, punching a hole in Gaara's sand shield and pressing on. Sasori knew the attack, but had no opportunity to evade or counter.

"_Raikiri!_" Sasuke almost stated almost at a level volume, but the hatred in the single word spoke volumes. Sasuke had punctured Sasori's heart, making the boy like puppet crumple where he stood.

Sasuke didn't bother to stand over his victim any longer than he had to. He rushed to Sakura and Lee's sides, both of whom were having difficulty breathing.

"Sas...Sasuke. Pouch. Antidote. Scroll. Give." Sakura managed to squeeze out as her lungs paralysed. The cuts she had received were minor, but the number in that final attack was great.

Sasuke fished desperately in her pouch and found a storage scroll. He unsealed the contents looking suspiciously like blood in a vial. He didn't bother questioning. He simply tipped half the contents of one vial onto Sakura's mouth, before moving to Lee.

Lee's eyes rolled to the back of his head while Sakura's body arched so dangerously that it looked as though she were at risk of snapping her spine. Sasuke looked on as they each had their own reaction to the antidote purging any poison from their system and healing the multitude of cuts. Soon a clear vapour started rising from their body before both collapsed, apparently asleep.

Gaara formed a platform under them and carried them back to the makeshift hospital that Temari and Kakashi were currently resting.

XXX

It was day after the fighting had ceased and the Konoha ninja were preparing for a journey back to Konoha.

"What was that antidote Sakura-chan?" Lee asked as they got ready.

"It was some of Karin's blood." Sakura answered, Lee looked slightly pale after he found out. "Apparently both her and Naruto's blood have amazing healing qualities. They are actually distantly related." Sakura continued. Feeling as sick he was Lee decided to keep his mouth firmly shut lest something other than his words pass his lips.

Kakashi and Sasuke remained out of the conversation, both deep in thought. Though sensei and student had not spoken their thoughts aloud, they were surprisingly similar. Both had resolved to speak to the Hokage when they returned.

XXX

It had been a week since the team sent to Suna had returned. Sasuke had had his conversation with the Hokage about Akatsuki. Tsunade had suggested that Sasuke needed to be removed from Naruto's team if Sasuke felt that he could not fight his own brother, information had come from Jiraiya that Itachi had been assigned capture of the Kyuubi and its vessel.

Sasuke answered back that he needed to be on Naruto's team to meet Itachi again and to understand his reasoning for joining the terrorist organisation. Tsunade gave him a long and hard look before she shifted her gaze and suggested that if he had nothing further to discuss with the Hokage then he should go and think hard about his course of action and let her know before Naruto returned.

Kakashi had been more worrying. He had officially applied for stress leave. Throughout his ninja career he had never done so, not when his father committed suicide, nor when either Obito or his sensei had died. During his leave the only thing that he had done was sit by the memorial stone; staring at it for long hours as though from its stony surface he might find the solution to his problems.

Shizune had seen the Hokage checking up on him every now and again, and the Hokage could see the pain that it caused Shizune knowing that he was in turmoil.

"Go to him. He needs you right now. Bring him some food, comfort him be there for him." Tsunade told her, not as her Hokage or mentor, but as her friend.

"He doesn't want anyone to be there. He just wants to think." Shizune countered.

"If you really care for him, and I mean REALLY care for him as I know you do, then you should be there for him and give him what he _needs_ not what he wants." Tsunade advised.

"I don't kno..." Shizune started, only to be cut off by Tsunade.

"I may be old, but I'm still a woman. I know those feelings and those looks of longing. You're both ninja, your lives could end at any moment. Take Dan and I for example. I'm glad for what time I had with him." Tsunade told her.

"But I don't want to feel that pain, his life _could_ end at any time. I don't want to have to feel the pain of living with him and then learning to have to live without him." Shizune rationalised.

"So you put yourself through a different kind of pain every day to avoid a pain that may never come? There isn't a day that I don't miss your uncle and wish that things could be different, but at least I got the chance to love. Please don't deny yourself that." Tsunade countered.

Shizune looked at her friend for a brief moment, then made her decision.

XXX

Shizune approached from Kakashi's left.

"I brought you something to eat." Shizune called to Kakashi.

"Thanks, I'm not too hungry, but I'll eat later." Kakahsi replied unenthused.

"No, you'll eat now. You haven't eaten in a few days." Shizune ordered. Kakashi gave her a hollow look before looking at the food then looking back at her.

"Look, I'm really not up to eating. I will eat later." Kakashi replied, trying to sound sincere.

"You always were a terrible liar." Shizune said, in normal circumstances it might have been funny, but nobody was feeling particularly mirthful.

"You don't need to tell me that. I've promised many things in my life, the most important of which always seem to get broken no matter how hard I try."

"Like?" Shizune asked, happy to finally be making some headway.

"I promised sensei that I would look after Obito and Rin when we were on our last ever mission as a team, that day I got Obito killed. I promised sensei that I would look after Naruto and yet he always seems to be in danger." Kakashi responded.

"Things happen on missions Kakashi, things that no one expects. And as for Naruto, he's a ninja it comes with the territory. In fact if you said that you wanted to protect him more after he got back from training with Jiraiya not only would he feel insulted, he probably clobber you in a no holds barred spar." Shizune offered, Kakashi actually smiled a little at that one.

"And then the latest. I promised Obito that I would look after RIn, but not only did I fail to do that, she is now an enemy of Konoha. If I kill her then I kept my promise to sensei to look after Naruto in his absence, but then I broke my promise to Sensei and Obito to look after her. If I let her live she will continue to help Akatsuki." Kakashi lamented.

"So the you're just going to give up? What you need to do n...Kakashi!" Shizune exclaimed.

As he spoke felt a huge sense of regret welling up inside him, eating him alive. Hot tears rushed down his face, but he did nothing to hide it.

"Kakashi your eye is bleeding!" Shizune said as she rushed to his aid. Just as she said it a tear dropped onto his gloved hand, thick and red, the droplet sat there for a moment before it soaked into his glove. Shizune was now by his side; she had raised his forehead protector and gasped as what she saw.

"Your...your sharingan is different." Shizune said as she looked at the unusual design in his eye. Kakashi took his headband back from her and inspected himself.

"Mangekyou." Kakashi intoned darkly.

"What?" Shizune asked.

"Mangekyou sharingan. An upgraded version of the normal sharingan, opened by the user after he kills his closest friend." Kakashi explained. "Sasuke and I did our research on what we had heard of Itachi's abilities. To be honest some of the skills afforded by this thing are truly fearsome." Kakashi continued.

"But you haven't killed your best friend." Shizune observed with a hint of worry, she hadn't seen Gai around the village recently.

"No, I think it was unlocked by the sense of regret and guilt I've been feeling." Kakashi theorised.

"Well that's at least something. As for your current dilemma; are you just going to give up? Say that you failed and not even try to keep the promise you made?" Shizune pressed, seeing that Kakashi wasn't disturbed by the new development she didn't allow it to bother her either.

"The promise is broken, no matter what I do then I have broken at least one promise." Kakashi countered.

"Only if you give up. Find a solution that keeps all your promises. You raised the ninja that has the greatest determination of any other, and yet you seem to be giving up so easily." Shizune told him, it was tough, but that was what he needed at the minute.

"There is no solution. I..." Kakashi started.

"You haven't even tried looking. You just gave up. The man I love doesn't just give up, he strives for the best for all his friends. He's a terrible liar. Tardy as anything, one of the greatest ninjas from this village, he is many things, but he never used to give up when his friends needed him." Kakashi looked as though he was about to interrupt, but Shizune pressed on.

"Look for a solution. If you were to meet the Yondaime, or Obito in the afterlife, could you face them knowing you didn't try and just gave up?" She finished, the look in his eyes had changed. It seemed as though something had gotten through.

"Thank you." He offered, to which she offered a warm smile. There was a pleasant silence between the before he spoke again. "So? Love, huh?" Kakashi mused, Shizune gave him a dumbfound look for a second.

"AAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" She exclaimed as she realised what she had said. "That...that...that..." She stammered.

"That...oh yeah, _that _reminds me. 'If he had asked, then I would have said yes'. That was what you said right?" Kakashi asked, quoting her own words to Naruto. Shizune had turned beet red.

"So I'm asking. Would you like to pick things up where they left off and see where it goes?" Kakashi asked. Shizune didn't trust herself to speak, she just launched herself around his mid-section and nodded into his chest.

"So that's a yes?" Kakashi joked, her only response was to squeeze him tightly, "Ok, I get it, it's a yes...need...air." He managed to squeak out through her iron grip.

XXX

"Special delivery for a Tsunade-Baachan?" The mail-nin called out in the Hokage's office. The office froze and looked at the man like he had a death wish.

"For your sake that had better be what's written on the envelope." Tsunade growled as she accepted the delivery.

"It's who the blonde haired kid told me it was to be delivered to. I swear I didn't know he meant the Godaime Hokage." The ninja told her as he held out the envelope in a trembling hand. The letter handed over the man made a hasty retreat, eager to get to his next delivery.

Tsunade sat in the confines of her office and read the letter.

_Dear Baa-chan. Just wanted to say hi. We're currently resting in Kumogakure after rescuing Nii Yugito from Akatsuki. We had to fight Hidan and Kakuzu. The long story short is that we won._

'Jiraiya, I'm going to kill you when you return, then use my powers as a physician to bring you back to life so I can kill you again.' Tsunade thought to herself.

_We met another container while we were saving Yugito. A green haired girl named Fu. She's a great ninja and a nice person. She's been exiled from her home, I just wish there was something that I could do for her. Perhaps if I see her again then I'll invite her to Konoha._

_How are Haku-chan and Rei-chan? I hope they are good. Tell them that I miss them that I promise I'll train hard so I can finish sooner to see them._

_You'd be amazed at the things I've learned while I'm away, I can't wait till I return. I wanna try for chuunin sometime soon. You might have to find me a new team because I'm sure that Sakura and Sasuke are already jounin by now. Maybe we'll all be able to go on proper missions with Nii-chan. Tell him I said hi as well. I'll have a spar with him as soon as I get back._

Tsunade looked out towards training ground seven where she knew the memorial stone was. 'Kid, it seems like you might _need _to knock some sense into that man.' Tsunade contemplated.

_What about you and Shizune-neechan? I hope that the being Hokage isn't getting you down. Don't worry if it is, I'll take that hat off you soon enough._

_See you soon,  
Naruto_

Reading his letter Tsunade could appreciate the humour, but was in no mood to laugh, this was the first small reprieve they had in two weeks of madness.

XXX

**End Chapter**

Ok, sorry for the great length of time between updates, my life has been crazy. I will finish this story, that much I promise; it just may take a while with the way things are going.


	23. Chapter 23

**The Eternal Chimera – Chapter 22**

I do apologise for the huge delay between updates. There have been mitigating factors in my life, for those that would like some accountability I will give a brief explanation after the chapter, though for now, I think it's best that I get straight into the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

XXX

A sixteen year old Naruto sat next to Jiraiya as they discussed his final preparations for his training. Jiraiya had suggested that he work on his summoning.

"While Hiko is away doing what he needs to for you, you shouldn't be idle. All you can do so far is summon, you need to be able to do more. You need to be able to work in tandem with your summons for greater effect." Jiraiya told Naruto.

"Yeah, that's great and all, but I don't even know where to start." Naruto told him, not complaining, just needing that extra direction.

"The best person to ask is the Phoenix boss. He will be able to tell you what is possible." Jiraiya told him.

Naruto stood up and walked a small way from Jiraiya before he summoned the Phoenix boss.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _He called without any urgency.

"Naruto, it has been a while, since we fought the Ichibi If I'm not mistaken." Tobifushicho said after he was summoned.

"Sorry, Tobifushicho-sama, it's just that we haven't really had the chance to summon you." Naruto apologised.

"Then I assume you have something to ask me." The black phoenix stated.

"I would like to work better with the phoenix summons in battle. I would like to know if there is anything that you can teach me and who would be willing to go into battle." Naruto called to the boss. Tobifushicho emitted a deep rumbling laugh.

"Who would be willing? All, of course. The phoenix contract was formed with the Gods as part of our request to remain immortal on the battle field." Tobifushicho reminded him. "How old are you, boy?" The phoenix answered.

"Sixteen." Naruto answered directly.

"Sixteen. I think a clan lesson is in order. In fact, I think I should have told you long ago, however the opportunity never arose." The shimmering bird told him.

"A lesson? I thought I was just about up to date." Naruto asked, not sure how much there was left to learn about the phoenixes' history.

"There are a few minor details that may have been omitted." The phoenix told him. Naruto didn't speak, but nodded to show he was listening.

"First, how do phoenixes join the summoning scroll and how do they appear once they do?" The Boss asked.

"The join when they die. They appear in their phoenix form, the larger the phoenix and greater amount of black in the plumage, the older...at...time...of death." Naruto slowed down as connections he had never made before suddenly appeared in his head. "Tobifushicho-sama, how old was Shinme when he joined the scroll." Naruto asked.

"I see you finally realised. He was sixteen, so the same age as you are now." The phoenix answered.

"Wait, what? How does a phoenix die of anything but old age?" Naruto was astounded that he had never thought of this before.

"There are two ways. The first is if the phoenix dies while immersed in water. The burning process cannot take place. There is a set time for this to happen. If it does not happen within a few minutes then the clan member dies. That doesn't mean any water, ordinary water would simply evaporate, I'm referring to justu based bodies of water. In my day there were those that could summon vast quantities, not pulling water from air, but creating it." The phoenix answered.

"And the other method?" Naruto asked.

"If the member dies with the intention of dying or if they simply lose the will to live." The phoenix answered.

"I'm not sure I understand either situation." Naruto answered truthfully.

"Then let's suppose that Haku or Rei were both being held hostage and your enemy states that they will be freed if you take your own life. There is no resurrection after suicide." The phoenix answered.

"And the other situation?" Naruto asked.

"Every person precious to you is dead. What reason do you have to live?" The Boss asked. Naruto thought long and hard before he answered.

"None. Revenge is useless, it won't bring them back. So I have no real reason to live." Naruto answered truthfully yet again.

"A good answer. For a man who has no reason to live, life and death seem little different. If you die without a reason to live, you won't resurrect." The giant phoenix explained.

"Is it possible to lose your immortality?" Jiraiya asked.

"A wise question and the answer is yes. To betray the Clan and the Leaf Village are forbidden, with this as a widely unknown consequence. You no longer uphold the beliefs of the clan; therefore all clan privileges are forfeited." The phoenix responded.

"Is there anything else that I should be aware of?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing of that nature at this time. However, as to your original reason for summoning me, working better with phoenixes in battle; how you work with us up to your ingenuity in how you combine our skills with your own." The Boss replied.

"I'm not sure I follow." Naruto replied.

"Summon Shinme." The Tobifushicho commanded. Naruto complied quickly, the smallest phoenix stood in the clearing.

"Form a rasengan." The boss ordered. Again Naruto complied without comment.

"Good. Shinme, if you please." The Boss spoke. The phoenix flew up, landed on the orb of spinning chakra.

"I get it. That's one hell of a technique. Rotation, power and control." Shinme said, before he flew off Naruto's hand taking the sphere with him. He flew in a circle with the ball in his talons, before flying into the rock wall, the ball boring into the rock with all its usual force.

Naruto looked at the effect and smiled.

"One more time, Shinme-san." Naruto called. He formed another rasengan, though this one was considerably different. Instead of the usual blue it was bright red. Shinme settled down on the orb, deciphering its make-up before taking off with the ball of chakra in his talons. He crashed into the rock wall near where he had the first time, but the effect on the wall was as different as the appearance. The red rasengan exploded in a fiery plume, the heat could be felt from a good 20 meters away, the rock was scorched in some areas, though closer to the jutsu's impact it was clear that the rock had melted a little.

"When the hell did you learn to do that?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well you always spoke of how Otou-san, was trying to combine the rasengan and an element, so I played around with it. The problem was that when I added an element the thing seemed to explode on contact. I have a wind version, and I can throw that because once it gets to a certain stage it maintains its own shape, but the fire style version falls apart as soon as it leaves the hand." Naruto explained to his sensei.

"Can you show me the wind one then?" Jiraiya asked.

"I will, but not here. There isn't enough room, short of you being shredded into pieces." Naruto explained. "And I'd like to try and elemental combination with the _katon: rasengan _and the _rasenshuriken_." Naruto explained.

"_Rasenshuriken_?" Jiraiya asked.

"The name of the completed wind style rasengan. I gave it a separate name as it looks too different from a rasengan to be called one." Naruto explained before turning to Tobifushicho, "Thank you, Boss. Now that I have some idea, I might be able to work with the rest of my clan a bit better." Naruto said with a bow.

The Phoenix Boss only gave a nod as indication of understanding, before both he and Shinme dispelled.

"So you have an idea of what you need to do?" Jiraiya asked his young charge. Naruto nodded in affirmation apparently deep in thought.

XXX

It was several weeks until Hiko returned. In that time Naruto worked on combining his jutsu with his phoenix summons. He found that not only could he get his summons to carry his rasengan, but he could channel his chakra through them, resulting in a few interesting jutsu. Jiraiya still hammered home the importance of keeping up his taijutsu skills as well as his ability to break free of genjutsu even if the former was not a part of his main arsenal and he never intended on learning any of the latter.

When Hiko finally did return it was later at night just as Jiraiya was preparing food. He wore a hard to read expression and had with him a long package that was wrapped rather well which had had not taken with him when he left.

Through dinner there was very little meaningful talk, only banter as the three laughed and joked. It held little warning for Naruto about the serious conversation that awaited him at the end of their meal.

Not really knowing where to start, Hiko just started talking and hoped it would all fall into place.

"The reason that I was away for so long is because I was having this crafted. It was made in Iwa. Their blades are practically unsurpassed." Hiko started out as he presented the long thing package to Naruto. Naruto looked at the blade in awe. It had a golden guard and handle, but the blade was black. It was a beautiful thing to see.

"I'm not sure if you recognise the materials, but it was crafted from the metal you melted clean off of my body when we were trying to master you _forme shift_. The guard and handle are from some of your own that I managed to scrape off in that fight. Your sensei helped with the crafting as well. He provided seals that will allow for the transfer of chakra from hilt to the blade, but not in reverse. In essence you get all the benefits of a dragon hide with none of the drawbacks" Hiko explained.

Naruto looked at both his sensei lost for words.

"Why?" He asked. He was overwhelmed with gratitude.

"I can't speak for Jiraiya, but your training with me has almost come to an end, the blade is in celebration of that. There is one technique left for me to teach you. When that is done then you will be the new successor to our sword style. The undisputed master of the _Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu."_

"Great. When can we get started on it?" Naruto asked, ever eager to learn more.

"Tomorrow. Tonight we rest." Hiko declared.

"Sensei. I've been meaning to ask. How did the Dragon clan meet it's down fall? The phoenix boss has explained how it was possible to kill a phoenix, but how did the Dragons meet their end?" Naruto asked.

Hiko regarded the boy for a minute before answering.

"You've been to the Hall of Eight Fathoms so I don't think that there is any harm in telling you. You are aware that our immortality was for superb performance in the first ninja war." Naruto nodded to show that he was listening, "Well then you might have some inkling about what some of the other clans requested." Hiko continued.

"Only, the phoenixes, the Dragons and the request made by the leader of a lightning village clan. To wield the power of the Gods. So he received the power of Raijin, the Thunder God, something that mortals were previously unable to harness." Naruto summarised.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. The Dragons grew arrogant after the first ninja war. Taijutsu, katon, futon, suiton all these techniques didn't seem to faze Dragons all that much. They were considered walking destruction. So when the second ninja war came, so confident in their transformations that most of the clan didn't bother to practice any other techniques, only expecting to need to stay on the field for as long as it took to transform before they levelled everything." Hiko explained.

Naruto and Jiraiya listened with rapt attention.

"So when they went into battle against the Kumogakure army, they were obliterated. This new type of chakra nature seemed to be the anti-thesis to the Dragons. They were countered easily and the Iwa army was crushed as a large part of their strategy was to have the Dragons deal with their enemy while the rest of the army mopped up any stragglers." Hiko recounted, a distant look in his eyes.

"As simple as that? They were destroyed?" Naruto asked shocked that the entire clan was brought to its knees in such a way.

"The news of how to deal with a member of the dragon clan quickly spread. And because of the prisoners held in different countries as well as mingled blood lines people with lightning chakra turned up everywhere. The only members of the Dragon clan that remained were the ones that had not neglected their training, particularly in our sword-style." Hiko told Naruto.

"I see." Naruto offered, taking the words to heart and realising just how true Jiraiya's words were about keeping all his skills high.

"I think it's time for all of us to go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day for you Naruto." Hiko announced.

The three made their own arrangements for sleep. Jiraiya pulled out a sleeping bag, Hiko retired to a hut for the night while Naruto decided to sleep right where he was sitting, using the cloak he was wearing as a blanket.

XXX

The next day the sun was shining, Hiko, Naruto and Jiraiya were outside, preparing to teach Naruto the final technique in the _Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu._

"The concept of this technique is quite simple. You must not hold back, consequences be damned. Trust your instincts." Hiko instructed, before coming at Naruto full speed. Never in all their time sparring had he come at Naruto with such ferocity. Naruto ducked the hit and transferred his motion into a battoujutsu technique, a sword stroke used to kill in the draw from the sheath.

Hiko blocked the hit before repelling the attack and sending Naruto sliding away a few metres. He saw his opportunity and made to strike.

"_Kuz Ryu Sen!" _Hiko intoned harshly. The strike, designed to strike its opponent at the nine different vital points simultaneously hit its mark. Hiko backed off after the technique.

"You held back." Hiko accused.

"So did you." Naruto countered.

"If that were anyone else they would be dead. I told you that if you want to learn this technique you would have to trust your instincts. The consequences be damned." Hiko continued as though Naruto hadn't spoken.

"But if I hadn't then you…" Naruto started.

"CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!" Hiko roared as he moved in again.

Naruto readying himself for a fresh onslaught. Their blades met, sparks flying between them, neither one opting for any of the _Hiten Mitsurugi's _ special sword techniques, simply choosing to strike, block, parry and counter continuously. Their blades met again before once again, Hiko sent Naruto skidding along the floor.

"_Kuzu Ryu Sen!" _Hiko called the name of his attack. Naruto saw his opening and this time didn't hesitate. He charged head on into the attack, performing one last battoujutsu, though this one was far more powerful than any other he had ever performed. Hiko was sent flying from the sheer force of the attack, before he was dragged back in by an invisible force for a second strike on the outstretched blade.

When Naruto next saw his sensei properly, the man was a bloody mess.

"Th…that was the A…Ama…Amakekaru Ryu no Hirameki. A sword strike so p…powerful it displaces the air, then the void creates a v…vacuum and drags the enemy in for a s…second strike." Hiko's breathing was laboured, and there was blood tricking from his mouth.

"Just wait. My blood. You'll be fine. You'll live to see…" Naruto sobbed.

"Don't you dare." Hiko managed to growl out in one hit. "I…I have waited a long t…time for this. Do not d…deny me this mercy. Use the sword I have left you. P…Protect your loved ones and live well." Hiko uttered with his dying breaths. When he was finished he neither said nor breathed no more. He had a calm look on his face and it almost appeared that he had a smirk on his face.

"He's gone Naruto. Let him rest. I'm sure that his life was longer than you could imagine. He was trapped, Dragon clan rules forbid suicide, you allowed him to die with his honour intact." Jiraiya tried to console his student.

"I know. I know all that. But it still hurts." Naruto confided.

"It will lessen with time. Never forget the man he was or what he did for you. Honour his memory, use the sword he gave you and carry out his dying wishes." Jiraiya told him.

"Hai, sensei." Naruto said, taking Jiraiya's words to heart. "Could you get me some sake, please. It doesn't have to be a lot. Just good quality sake. Please?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya looked at him for a second before he agreed. He didn't say another word, simply leaving Naruto there with the body of his now dead swords instructor, turning to head to town for sake.

Naruto turned and looked at the body before making a shadow clone. The clone then transformed into a shovel and fell to the ground with a clang. He could have just as easily used a jutsu to dig out the grave site, but he felt that it would hold little meaning and be disrespectful to the man who had taught him so much.

Two hours later Naruto had complete digging the grave and was carefully placing his sensei's body in the hole. He then began covering closing the grave site.

Jiraiya returned a short while later, in time to see Naruto finish tamping down the gravesite before driving in a wooden cross and Hiko's sword at the head of the tomb.

"I got the sake as you requested. There's not a lot, but it's quality stuff just like you asked for." Jiraiya said, offering the bottle as well as producing two sake saucers.

"Thank you, Sensei." Naruto sid as he reached out for the items.

"I knew you for three years, and yet it still seems like it wasn't enough. I thank you for everything that you have done for me. The tutelage in sword skills, imparting life lessons and even helping me understand who I am. I swear to uphold your teachings and live to your expectations." Naruto said solemnly before lifting up his saucer. "Here's to you! Kanpai!." He said before draining his saucer.

Jiraiya looked at his student before looking at the grave site.

"You taught us both so much. You will not be forgotten. Kanpai!" Jiraiya offered before he too drained his saucer.

Naruto then poured the remainder of the sake over the head of the grave and offered a silent prayer.

"So, what now?" Naruto asked Jiraiya.

"I've seen you grow over the last few years. I don't think that there is a lot that you can do in isolation anymore. For you, it's all about getting experience." Jiraiya told him.

"So what does that mean?" Naruto asked, not sure what his sensei was getting at.

"You're still a genin. Perhaps we should return to the village and get you promoted. I have word from Tsunade that your teammates have remained as genin in order to take the chuunin exams with you." Jiraiya informed.

"They what? Surely they would be high chuunin by now though." Naruto quizzed his sensei.

"More than that, you all have low jounin to high jounin ability. You lack experience though and they wanted to graduate with you. To that end our first task is to return to Konoha."

With one last look over the grave site they both set out for Konoha.

XXX

"I can't thank you enough for all your help here, Kazehana-sama." Haku said with a bow.

"Think nothing of it. That boyfriend of yours did more for me than I could ever hope to repay. And how many times have I told you over the last month to call me Koyuki?" The Daimyo of Spring country replied kindly, as she watched the girl lightly blush.

"That would make number two hundred and thirty seven." One of Koyuki's guards replied.

"Rhetorical question, Fubuki" Koyuki replied with an exasperated shake of her head. "You, Naruto and Rei must all come and visit one day. I would like to see you all again."

"I'm sure that we will see each other again." Haku replied "Once again, thank you for all your help here. I must set out if I am to make my boat. Sayonara, Koyuki-sama." Haku offered as she turned to set out for Konoha.

"Well, it's a start. Sayonara, Haku-chan." Koyuki farewelled.

Koyuki and her guard watched her leave until she was no longer visible, then turned to head back into the city.

XXX

"Hokage-sama, what a pleasure to see you again. What can I do for you today?" Teuchi asked as he saw the Hokage enter his ramen stand.

"I'm not here to eat today, Teuchi-san. I was under the impression that Rei-chan would be working today." Tsunade explained as she entered.

"She's in the kitchen right now. I'll go and grab her." Teuchi said as he bowed then turned on his heel, hearing Tsunade offer her thanks as he entered his kitchen.

"Tsunade-sama, Teuchi-san said that you wished to see me." Rei greeted with a bow.

"I just received a messenger toad from Jiraiya. He and Naruto are returning. I just thought you'd appreciate the news." Tsunade told the redhead. She expected some kind of reaction, but the girl just gaped at her, unable to form a proper response. Slowly her wits came to her, and she gave a dazzling smile, and uttering her thanks to the Hokage while bowing.

"They say that they will enter the village a little before nightfall. Well that's all I had to say. I'm heading out. I'm sure the rookie twelve and their sensei will want to know as well." Tsunade said as she left the establishment.

Just as she got outside Tsunade heard Rei cry "YATTA!". She wanted to tell Rei personally, just to see her reaction, but would ask the ANBU to inform the rest.

Teuchi approached Rei from behind and cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard the conversation." He told her. "You were supposed to work tomorrow, but in light of the news, I'll give you the day off." Teuchi offered.

Rei didn't respond with words, she just gave the aging man a huge hug before skipping back into the kitchen to finish the rest of her shift.

XXX

"So, he's coming back." Sakura said to no one in particular.

"I can barely wait. I'm dying to spar against him." Sasuke replied.

"You may have to get in line for that. I imagine that there are quite a few people that wouldn't mind going a round or two with him. Myself included." Kakashi interrupted their conversation.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura greeted in mild surprise.

"We do have training today Sakura, don't be so surprised to see me." Kakashi responded.

"It's not so much that you're here, it's that you're on time, Sensei." Sasuke replied with a chuckle.

"I needed to inform you that you are all being entered into the chuunin exams, this time in Iwa." Kakashi go straight to the point. "You will all have exactly one month to tune your teamwork the day after Naruto arrives. You need to use that time to find out each other's skills and learn to work in a team once again." Kakashi continued.

"Brilliant. This will be fantastic. Let's get training then." Sasuke said with vigour.

"You worried you're gonna get beaten by a first year rookie?" Sakura teased.

"We're in Naruto's team. While I might not get beaten by anyone else, I refuse to be dead weight that gets carried through by my absurdly powerful teammate." Sasuke replied.

"You think you're giving him a little too much credit?" Sakura asked.

"You tell us Sakura. He's spent the last few years training under one of the strongest men in the Elemental Nations. Not to mention that Jiraiya said that his sword instructor was immensely powerful as well. Add to that Naruto's own desire to improve, you might find that you will be calling him Hokage-sama sooner rather than later." Kakashi told her.

Sakura gained a steely gaze in her eye before readying herself into a sparring stance.

"Excellent. Let's begin then." Kakashi said as he prepared to referee.

XXX

"Haku, it's good to see you back in the village again." Tsunade greeted as she saw the _Hyouton_ user enter her office.

"It's good to be back, Tsunade-sensei." Haku greeted in return.

"So tell me, what did you learn?" Tsunade asked, directly to the point.

"I learned to use the ice coffin jutsu and perfected it to my needs. I can now freeze and thaw a person in a block of ice for easy transport. I have taught the altered jutsu to the Haru no Kuni ninja. It can be used for transporting the injured and keeping them in stasis, or for moving prisoners. Spring Country will be sending designs for the suits of armour that our medics will need to wear in order to use the jutsu. The suits also protect against nin and genjutsu, increasing the survivability of an on field medic" Haku reported.

"Very impressive. Well in light of your hard work, I'll give you a few days rest before I'll ask you to return to usual hospital juties." Tsunade told her.

"That won't be necessary sensei, the trip was easy. I don't mind restarting tonight." Haku offered.

"Are you sure? I just thought you might want the night off seeing as Naruto was returning at sundown." Tsunade told her.

"Trust me I really don't…SAY WHAT!" Haku started before interrupting herself.

"Did I stutter." The Hokage replied.

"I'll take it." Haku replied quickly, a brilliant smile gracing her lips.

"I'm guessing that you'd like to talk to Rei and get ready. It is the first time you'll be seeing him in so long after all." The Hokage told her student. The black haired girl bowed quickly before shunshinning away.

XXX

"Come on, Ero-sennin." Naruto urged Jiraiya.

"Slow down you dolt, Konoha isn't moving anywhere anytime soon." Jiraiya replied. He was grinning, as he chided his student. He could understand Naruto's enthusiasm to return to Konoha. Jiraiya also felt it would do Naruto some good to be surrounded by his loved ones. Even though the blond was trying not to let on, Jiraiya could tell after being with him for so long that he was hurting after the loss of Hiko. The man had been a solid fixture in his life for so long it would be unnatural if Naruto hadn't been fazed by his death, particularly when it was at his own hands.

XXX

"Where is he? It's almost sunset already and he's still not even visible." Rei moaned, craning her neck as though the extra inch was going to make a difference in how far along the horizon she could see.

"A ninja should never arrive before or after he intends, only at the exact moment. Too early and you leave yourself open to counter attack, too late and you miss your window of opportunity."

"This isn't a battlefield, Haku-chan." Rei deadpanned.

"They are good words to live by though." A voice called out from behind them.

"See, even Jiraiya-sama agrees with me. JIRAIYA-SAMA?" Haku yelped when she recognised the voice. "Where is Naruto-kun?" She asked, almost pleaded with the Sannin.

"Dear me, for a group that boasts two Kage, as well as an assortment from high chuunin to high jounin, you really are oblivious." Jiraiya said with his trademark grin.

"Stop kidding around pervert where is he?" Tsunade said as she took a threatening step towards her old teammate.

"Right here Baa-chan." Another voice called to them, this time from the direction they were originally looking in.

"NARUTO-KUN!" A unison yell came from both Haku and Rei. The next thing Naruto was aware off was that he was flat on his backside with two slightly hysterical girls firmly attached around his midriff.

The girls got off of the blond ninja long enough for him to get to his feet before reattaching themselves again.

"You have no idea how much we've missed you." Rei said to Naruto as she inhaled his scent, before giving him a peck on the lips.

She then stepped aside so that Haku could give him a proper hug as well. The black haired girl took in his scent with her arms wrapped around his chest, before her grip got frighteningly strong. The entire situation seemed vaguely familiar to Naruto and before he knew it, he could feel his face smarting from the hard slap that Haku gave him.

"That was for keeping the both of us waiting for two years, six months, three weeks and two and a bit days." She explained, before pressing her lips hard against his. "And that is for returning to us." She told him with a reddened face.

"Well now that the girls have said their hellos, would it be possible for me to say hello to my little brother for the first time in what was it? Two years, six months, three weeks and two and a bit days." Kakashi taunted the girls, though Haku more particularly.

They both stepped back so that the others could say their hellos.

"Well it seems you've grown some. I can't wait to see just how much you've grown." Kakashi said as he appraised his adoptive little brother.

"It's good to see you again Naruto-kun. The village has been far too quiet without you around." Shizune greeted, giving him a brief hug after Kakashi.

"Well brat it's good to see you again. Kakashi isn't wrong. You've grown a hell of a lot. You're as tall as Kakashi is. And if I find that the pervert has done anything to corrupt you over the last two and a half years I will kill him, then use my skill as a physician to bring him back to life so I can kill him again." Tsunade said, giving Jiraiya a very pointed glare towards the end.

"Don't worry Baa-chan. We were working so hard that he didn't even get time to have his own fun let alone try and lead away from the path." Naruto placated.

The Sandaime stepped forwards to greet the young man next. His arms were still bandaged from battling with Orochimaru all those years ago.

"You've grown so much." He offered, before leaning in. "I can only imagine that you are becoming a man that your parents would be proud of." The previous Hokage stated.

"Thanks Oji-san, that really means a lot to me." Naruto replied.

"Well I can't keep you. From the look that your two teammates are giving I can tell they are being politely impatient." Hiruzen said with a grin.

As he backed away Sasuke and Sakura approached.

"It's so good to finally see you again. We've been waiting for you to come back. We refused to get passed into chuunin without you and we've been training hard so we can keep up with you when you returned." Sakura gushed as she gave him a quick hug.

"I've been waiting for so long for you to return. I can't wait to see what you've learned in the last few years. Lee and Kiba are the same. I'm sure they will come and fine you when they hear about your return." Sasuke as he gave Naruto a firm handshake.

"Seriously? Is that all you three can think of? He's just returned and all you want to see is how much he has improved?" Haku said in disbelief.

"You mean you're not interested. I mean if someone left me for two years, six months, three weeks and two and a bit days he'd better have something to show for it." Kakashi replied, grinning under his mask.

Haku and Rei looked at one another.

"Naruto, you'd better put on a damn good show when we see you spar next time." Rei said.

"You'd best be able to beat Sasuke and Sakura with one hand tied behind your back." Haku threatened.

"How am I supposed to sign for jutsu like that?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"One handed like I do." Haku replied. Naruto looked at her for a second, then realised that she might be onto something.

"How about for now we all just go to a welcome home dinner?" Tsunade interjected.

XXX

The group had gathered at Naruto and Kakashi's house and were getting seated. Naruto was between Haku and Rei. On the way there he had described his training to his friends and family. There was a general banter in the room, Jiraiya was talking to Shizune and Kakashi and had a perverted grin on his face that Tsunade noticed all too quickly and punished him for.

"Welcome back Naruto." Teuchi greeted as he entered the room with serving bowls full of food.

"Welcome back, Naruot-kun." Ayame chimed in not long after her father as she entered the room also carrying food.

Naruto stood to greet them, receiving a firm hand shake from Teuchi and a brief but warm hug from Ayame.

"You guys prepared the food tonight? This is going to be great." Naruto commented with a big grin on his face.

"Not just us, we had two helpers. The girls made some of tonight's selection as well." Teuchi noted as he waved a hand in Rei and Haku's direction, both of whom were sporting light blushes at the mention.

Through the night there was general talk as well as people asking what new things that Naruto had learnt and the things that he had seen.

"I would really love to meet your kenjutsu sensei just once." Sarutobi commented. Jiraiya gave him a look that only Hiruzen, Tsunade and kakshi caught.

"Sure, I'll take you to meet him one day." Naruto replied with as genuine a smile as he could muster. Haku and Rei immediately picked up the pain behind the facade, but didn't mention anything.

Some hours later the food had stopped coming, Ayame and Teuchi were still just finishing off their food as they were the last to eat after serving everyone else.

"It was so good having your ramen again for the first time in years. There were some good places on the road, but nothing ever compares to your stuff, Teuchi-oji." Naruto complimented.

"You liked it that much?" Teuchi asked?

"Liked it? I loved it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Then you had better direct your thanks to Rei-chan. She was the one who prepared that dish, after all."

"That was you, Rei-chan? That was brilliant."

"While you were away the girls each developed a skill or two. Haku pioneered a new technique for medical transport and Rei-chan worked on becoming a brilliant chef. We've all had meals prepared by her in the last few years. Suffice to say when you get the cash you might need to help her open a restaurant." Tsunade explain.

"You guys were holding out on me when asked what you had done over the last few years. That is all so amazing as he pulled both girls into a hug, both wearing radiant smiles.

"Well I think that I should head home for night. Don't forget brat, you have a testing of your skills tomorrow afternoon." So don't say up too late getting reacquainted." Tsunade advised as both she and Sarutobi stood and made to leave.

Naruto and Kakashi stood to see them off, Shizune moved with Kakashi to see the pair off.

"Oh are you leaving to Shizune-Neechan?" Naruto asked. Shizune looked at the boy for a second, then realised the piece of vital information they had left out.

"Shall I tell him? Or will you?" She asked Kakashi.

"Naruto, I may have left out one minor detail. Shizune lives with me, she has moved in." Kakashi explained. Naruto looked between the pair, there was still something that he wasn't picking up.

"Oh and by the way, I assume you are willing to be best man." Kakashi added. Naruto looked between the pair slowly making the connection.

"Best man? YOU TWO ARE GETTING MARRIED?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Tsunade to wince at the volume and dogs to bark in the neighbourhood.

"Yes, we used to date before Shizune left Konoha. We decided to pick things back up from where they left off. I proposed a while ago, but we were holding off the wedding so that you could be a part of it." Kakashi explained.

"Well congrats to both of you. How much has changed since I've been away?" Naruto commented.

"Sensei, we should go too." Sakura called out to Kakashi as she made her way to the door along with Sasuke.

"Be at our usual training grounds tomorrow at one in the afternoon. You three are going to get intimately close with each other's combat skills." Kakashi said to them, they acknowledged the order before setting off.

"Sounds like you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow. Rei and I are going to head for home after seeing Teuchi-san and Ayame-san to their homes." Haku said to Naruto.

"You're not staying? I was hoping to spend some more time with you two." Naruto asked, looking hopeful.

"If you're worried about these two getting home, then I could offer my services." Jiraiya chimed in. "I can walk them home while the three of you get some catching up done."

"It's settled then. Teuchi said almost immediately, picking up on what Jiraiya was doing. Jiriaya, Tsunade, Sarutobi, Ayame and Teuchi all set out for their homes walking together for part of the way as they were headed in the same general direction.

"That was quite a nice thing you just did. So out of character, and you didn't even make any lecherous comments. Wonders will never cease." Tsunade joked.

"He needs to be surrounded by as many friends as possible right now. It will do him good." Jiraiya replied.

"Is this to do with his kenjutsu instructor?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah. Shortly before returning his sensei wanted to teach Naruto the succession skill. The sword technique that would signify Naruto as a master of their style." Jiraiya started.

"Well isn't that a good thing?" Teuchi asked.

"Normally yes, but this technique is absolutely lethal when performed correctly and can only be learned in the heat of battle." Jiraiya informed.

"So he killed his sensei while learning the new technique?" Sarutobi surmised.

"What? So is that why he forced a smile when he was asked?" Ayame asked.

"You noticed that?" Jiraiya asked.

"Naruto has been eating ramen at our store for ten years. It'd be pretty poor of me to not learn when he's happy and when he's pretending so people don't worry." Ayame said.

"In any case, his sensei told him not to hold back, but Naruto realised that the technique would kill his sensei if he performed it. He did perform the technique flawlessly eventually and his sensei's death was the result.

"That's terrible. He must be devastated." Tsunade commented.

"That's why it's so good that he can surround himself with friends right now to take his mind off of things." Jiraiya commented.

XXX

"Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." A teary Rei said as she hugged the blond ninja.

"No it's fine. Ultimately it was his decision. He wanted to pass on the technique and I think he was truly sick of having lived for so long. He was simply waiting for a way to die with his honour intact. That's how Jiraiya-sense explained it. If I think of ii at way, then it becomes a little easier to bear." Naruto replied.

"Still, we are sorry for your loss. Just remember, we are always here for you." Haku said her arms also Naruto.

"Thanks. Tell you what. I'll tell you about the rest of my trip. There were some brilliant things about it as well. I met with some great people as well." Naruto offered.

"Please." Haku replied almost immediately.

"Yes, I'd love to hear it." Rei said eagerly.

"What should I start with? I know how about..." Naruto started.

The three talked well into the night falling asleep in their sitting positions on the couch.

XXX

FLASH...FLASH

"Huh? What? Aniki?" Naruto moaned out. "ANIKI!" Naruto he roared when he saw the camera in his brother's hand.

"Blackmail material." Kakashi said. If he didn't have the mask on, Naruto could have sworn that he would have been looking at the largest ever shit-eating grin.

"It's nearly ten in the morning. If you want to do anything today before you reacquaint yourself with Sasuke and Sakura then now would be the time to do it. I would advise you get a bit more familiar with the city's lay out. You left not all that long after the invasion, and while some things are the same, not everything is." Kakashi advised.

"Yeah, I might run into a few people on my way around as well." Naruort agreed.

Half an hour later he, Haku and Rei were prepared to go around the city. The girls has said that their first stop was to their apartment so they could show him around.

"Make sure that you are at our training grounds at one PM sharp." Kakashi called as he watched them leave.

"I'll be there. What time are you getting there?" Naruto ribbed, recalling that Kakashi was lat practically everywhere.

"He'll be getting there by at least one PM. That is if he doesn't want Tsunade-sama to get on his case." Shizune answered for him.

"The Hokage is going to be there?" Kakashi asked.

"And Sarutobi-sama. So I would advise all of you to be on time." Shizune replied.

"Well then we'll head off now to make the most of our time then." Naruto said before he and the two girls headed out for the day.

The engaged couple watched them before Shizune spoke.

"You know, if you want to use that as blackmail material I don't think you have long. It's only a matter of time before they admit how they truly feel about each other." Shizune said to Kakashi.

"I know. It was never about the blackmail material. It was just a really good shot. I've not ever seen the three of them look so at peace." Kakashi replied.

XXX

Naruto and the girls had wandered the village, allowing him to take in the sights. They had run into Neji and his team. They exchanged greetings, Lee wasted no time in challenging Naruto to a sparring match. Naruto said that he had a sparring session with his teammates, but told Lee that he was more than welcome to try his hand later.

Eventually they wended their way to the girl's apartment.

"So this is your place? It's really nice. Not too far from either the hospital or Teuchi's joint." Naruto observed.

"It's modest, but it's what we like." Rei replied. "We have something for you." She told him as Haku reappeared from a different room with a small box that had a ribbon bow around it.

"Open it now." Haku encouraged.

"A key?" Naruto asked, not quite sure what it was for.

"It's to our apartment. It's our way of saying that you are always more than welcome here." Haku told him as he looked at the small item.

Naruto took a deep breath as his eyes moistened while he looked at the object. "Thank you...so much. This means more than you could know." He whispered to the girls before dragging them into a tight hug, one they gladly returned.

"Come on, if we linger here much longer then were gonna be late for your first training session back." Haku said.

XXX

"Ah here he is. The last person, and not a moment late either." Sarutobi said as he noticed Naruto, Haku and Rei approaching.

"Last person? Surely Kakashi-Niichan isn't here yet?" Naruto said quite doubtful.

"I can be on time when I need to be, Naruto." Kakashi responded lazily.

"Only under extreme duress." Tsunade noted dryly.

"It doesn't matter, so long as he's here we can get started." Sasuke said from his seated position by Sakura, both of whom were sitting in the shade of the largest tree in the training area.

"Well at least they seem eager." Sarutobi said.

"Shall we get this under way?" Tsuande asked.

"Think that I should set some rules first Hokaage-sama." Kakashi offered. Tsunade nodded her ascent and Kakashi began. "First, this is a no holds barred, but use some common sense. I don't want you to kill each other. The scope of the spar is limited to this training area and nowhere else. Finally, as this is a no hold barred things may get quite intense. If for any reason you need the match to be stopped, the code word _disengage _will be used. If you hear it then you must stand down. _Immediately." _Kakashi emphasised.

He looked around and saw that the three combatants had no questions, so he began the match.

"OK, ready, FIGHT!" He called.

The three of them stood around for a second before Sakura spoke out.

"So how do you want to do this? Free-for-all? Or two on one?" She asked her male teammates.

"I was kinda hoping it would be you and Sasuke against me." Naruto called back.

"You think you can stand up to the both of us?" Sasuke asked.

"You think that you can take me on your own?" Naruto asked, Sasuke didn't reply, he just gave Naruto a cocky grin as all three settled into fighting stances.

Naruto was the first to move, making a shadow clone.

"Still using those clones? Thought you would have learned something new by now." Sasuke taunted.

"Does that mean you ignore all the basic skills you learned then?" Naruto countered.

"Of course not, they are the very foundation of a ninja's skills. You'd be a fool to forget them." Sakura retorted.

"My point exactly." Naruto said as he waited for Sakura and Sasuke to make their move and close in.

Sasuke made a leaping approach, while Sakura cocked her fist and made to punch at the ground. The very instant Naruto made to intercept Sasuke he was practically thrown from his feet, the ground seemed to be shaking beneath him. The clone, also knocked off its feet was picked off by Sakura as she nailed it with a kunai.

Sasuke scored the first hit of the match when his falling punch connected solidly with Naruto's face.

"Baa-chan?" Naruto asked groggily as he got back to his feet.

"Sakura, actually." Sasuke corrected with a smug grin on his face.

Naruto recovered quickly and started a taijutsu match with Sasuke while Sakura still remained at distance. Fists and feet flew through the air as both boys parried each other's attacks. Just when it had appeared that Sasuke has slipped up, Naruto moved in ready to punish him for over extending his punch, but found he had to retreat quickly when two shuriken flew through the air, whistling right through where his hand would have been. Sasuke made to punish the retreat with a kick, but found that Naruto ducked under the kick and slammed his elbow into Sasuke's ribs using the power he gained from both rising up from under the kick and the rotation the _Reikoku Ken-ryuu _utilised. Sasuke grunted in pain, Naruto used the break to put some distance between him and Sasuke.

Naruto surveryed his options before he spoke.

"Well I think it's time we had some fun." Naruto announced with a wicked grin. Sasuke and Sakura both recognised that grin. It was the grin he wore when some one was about to get pranked.

Naruto split from Sasuke and went to engage Saukra. Sakura fired three kunai before multiplying them.

"_Kage kunai_ _no jutsu!" _She called, Naruto saw the oncoming cloud of steel and prepared his own jutsu.

"_Fuuton: Daitoppa!"_ Naruto called, the intense wind blew the projectiles clean out of the air. Sakura managed to fasten herself to the ground using chakra so she didn't get blown away. When the wind had passed she was faced with a grinning Naruto. Naruto started out with a right arm elbow before reversing directions and sending two elbows at Sakura, right after left.

Sakura dodged all three before she sent a right hook to Naruto's ribs. He ducked under the strike and lashed out from his lowered position at her stomach. She deftly caught the kick without so much as flinching before picking him up and throwing him towards Sasuke. Sasuke raced in to pick up where she left of, but Naruto had already recovered and was sending a right round house kick at his ribs. Sasuke easily avoided the hit and moved in to counter but was caught completely off guard with what happened next.

"What the..." was all he managed to cry out in surprise. His eyes widened as he saw the thick golden tail protruding from Naruto's back approach and then slam into his left side, knocking the wind from him and sending him flying. Sasuke came skidding to a halt a good twenty meters away, when he came to his feet he looked at Naruto in awe.

"I can completely control my dragon form now." Naruto explained. "I can freely turn any part of my body into the corresponding dragon part." He elaborated.

"You'd better activate you're sharringan for this, if you wanna keep up that is. And Sakura, shuriken and kunai won't work here either. You'll need to get involved directly if you wanna help." Naruto advised. To prove his point he picked up a discarded kunai and drove it full force into his transformed hand, the kunai simply shattered without any visible effect on the claw.

The three readied themselves before Sasuke made the opening, leaping in for an aerial approach.

"This again?" Naruto commented slightly irritated. Sakura made to punch the ground and connected solidly, but found that Naruto had anticipated and leapt to meet Sasuke in mid-air. Right before their eyes Naruto's back sprouted wings, a with a wing span at least triple his height. He easily avoided Sasuke and grabbed his leg as he passed him by. Naruto swung him around once before throwing directly at the ground, Sasuke easily recovered in the air and minimised the damage by landing properly, but he wasn't given a moment's rest. He saw Naruto's shadow explode in size and jumped out of the way of whatever attack was coming his way; moments later Naruto's full size dragon body crashed right where he was standing, a manoeuvre that would have crushed him, leaving a very large crater in the ground.

Sakura watched the progress of the battle and realised what Naruto might be planning. She timed her entry into the fray perfectly so Naruto was still in his dragon form and had just crash landed.

"Let's see just how tough those scales really are!" She growled as she cocked her fist back before firing full force. The impact left a sizable dent in his chest plating. Naruto let out an ear-splitting roar when the fist made contact and fired a white hot jet of flames at Sakura in retaliation.

"_Doton: Doryuheki!" _Sasuke called out, quickly throwing up the mud wall to protect his teammate. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief before realising that the mud barrier wouldn't hold for long after the intense heat that Naruto's flame was putting it though. She quickly jumped out of harm's way and regrouped with Sasuke. Naruto stopped his attack and reverted to his human form.

"That...that was insanity." Sasuke managed to pant out.

"You're telling me." Naruto said massaging the area where Sakura had punched. "That punch, you've really learned well from Baa-chan. I like the strategy. You hang back and lull people into thinking that you are a range fighter, so when they get into close range they think they've got the drop on you and let their guard own." Naruto surmised.

"And it would seem that Jiraiya really managed to get you start using your head rather than just going by instinct alone." Sasuke ribbed.

"And what about you? I'm yet to see anything that knew, aside from improved speed and a new jutsu." Naruto joked back.

"All in good time, Naruto. All in good time." Sasuke said with his trademark smirk before activating his sharingan and racing in to engage Naruto. Naruto avoided the initial punch and made to attack, but had to rotate out of the way of Sakura's punch who had just entered the match as well. Naruto was not in prime position, he transformed his hands into claws and slashed at the both of them, both his sparring partners both avoided the strike. With his back turned it appeared that Naruto really one had one option; to use his tail, so he did exactly that his tailed lashed out, but his actions were anticipated and Sakura caught the tail.

The smirk on Saukra's face soon disappeared and she had to relinquish her grip or be skewered on Naruto's emerging wings. She made a hasty retreat just in time as the wings speared right through where she was standing. Sasuke made to capitalise on Naruto's apparent distraction, but his kick was caught on Naruto's wrist.

"You still wear those charkra weights?" Sasuke asked as he felt his leg connect with his wrist.

"Sure do. I can control the charkra in them quite well. With such huge reserves, the remainder in the weight is almost nothing in comparison, so I'm now able to internalise it quite easily." Naruto replied as he shoved Sasuke's leg away and made for his counter attack. It was fortunate Sasuke has his sharingan active as Naruto's attacking lived up to its name, there was no relent, there was no true safe point to attack from.

"Is dodging all you can do?" Naruto taunted, his words were swiftly answered with a solid punch to the head that apparently came out of nowhere. Before he could recover he was blindsided again, though neither opponent was visible.

"Genjutsu." Naruto muttered. "KAI!" Naruto exclaimed, performing the genjutsu release technique. The image in front of Naruto wavered before solidifying again, though neither Sakura not Sasuke became visible.

"That won't work." Sakura called, seemingly from everywhere.

"You asked what else we had been working on during your time away? Well this is your answer. Genjutsu. It will take something out of the ordinary to break this. A genjutsu is harder to break when it involves more than one sense. This particular one messes with eyes, ears and smell, the three senses a ninja most commonly uses." Sasuke explained.

"On top to that, we've layered each of our genjutsu over each other, reinforcing the effect." Sakura added.

Naruto took in the information and decided his next course of action. He calmed down and settled into a fighting position. Sakura and Sasuke looked on, not quite sure what to make of his course of action.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu: Shinme!" _ Naruto called, the small phoenix appeared and Naruto announced his next jutsu. "_Kage bunshin no jutsu!"_ The small phoenix suddenly became twenty and there was an entire flock of them in the training grounds.

"I can't see, hear or smell you, but my clan can sense life energy. The last time I was here all I could do was sense differences between organisms, but now I can tell individuals apart and sense where they are. What you saw me do just then was focus my chakra though my summons. It can have some amusing effects." Naruto explained before announcing his next jutsu.

"Phoenix darts jutsu!" Naruto called, the flock of phoenixes becoming wrapped in a cloak of wind chakra, then launching themselves at Sasuke and Sakura. The two did an admirable job of dodging and even managed to dispel a few of the clones.

"Let's turn the heat up a little. Burning Arrow Jutsu!" Naruto called. The green cloaking of the wind chakra changed into a white and red cloak as Naruto channelled some fire chakra through the flock.

"While I appreciate the jutsu, I prefer not to be on the receiving end. _Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." _Sasuke called, pulling water from the air. The dragon lunged at the flock, while it missed a good portion of the phonixes, the original Shimne was caught and had to dispel, with Shinme leaving the plane the other phoenixes dispelled as well.

"I'm impressed you managed to fire at us so accurately." Sasuke called out during the lull in battle.

"And you? Pulling water from air? That was something that the Nidaime Hokage was well known for." Naruto replied back.

"Believe me it takes serious concentration to pull that off. I'm a fire elemental like you, so that combined with the control needed for the chakra makes it an extremely taxing technique, but it as its uses." Sasuke replied

"I think I'm gonna have to cut it off there." Kakashi called out across the clearing.

"Sensei we were just getting started." Sasuke called back.

"That's exactly what I mean. You're techniques are slowly getting more and more destructive. This isn't the Forest of Death, so we can't completely rampage here." Kakashireplied.

"OK that's fine. I have one more jutsu I wanna show. I promised Jiraiya-sensei I would show him soon, so I think now is as good a time as any." Naruto called back. Kakashi nodded and Naruto leapt out into the clearing on his own. Hand raised above his head he started to mould chakra. As he was performing the technique a slight buzzing could be heard, growing steadily louder.

A small orb appeared in Naruto's hand, but it rapidly grew in size and started developing shuriken like blades. Finally the jutsu was complete.

"_RASENSHURIKEN!_" Naruto called. He threw the mass of chakra. Everybody watched it fly, and when it exploded it shredded everything within the blast radius until it was nothing more than dust.

"That...That's insanse. I even with the sharingan, I still couldn't count the number of cuts." Sasuke exclaimed, in a state somewhere between awe and horror of the jutsu's power.

"Well Hokage-sama, I'd say that they are combat ready for the chuunin exams. I will just have to make sure that they can meet the other condtions of the exam enough to pass." Kakashi said, addressing Tsunade.

"You have a month." Tsunade told him before they officially ended the observational match.

XXX

**Chapter End**

Like I said, there would be a brief explanation for those who would. Again, I would like to apologise for my long absence and lack of updates, however there were mitigating circumstances. I have actually had this chapter half written for quite some time., but in the middle of writing my mother fell seriously ill and required me to quit my uni degree in favour of finding full time work to support to both of us and pay the mortgage and bills. My time recently has been devoted to either helping her or earning a living, so I've had little personal time. That being said, things are looking up and Mum is faring better than I could have hoped, now being able to do things for herself again. The sickness is an ongoing thing, but is not as severe, leaving me with some time per week to write fiction. Apologies in advance for any future delays.

Thanks for your patience.

Cheers, Fish


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